Kernel upgrade
 

Ok here it goes... I have Mandrake 9.0 installed and I have downloaded Mdk9.1. The upgrade fonction did not goes right neither a fresh installation so I rebuilded my entire server on 9.0

Now, I have downloaded the patch-2.4.22.tar.gz file from kernel.org and I want to use it to upgrade from 2.4.19 (Mdk9.0).

I'm trying what is in the Kernel Howto (chapter 6-Patching the kernel) and it says:

#make clean
#cd /usr/src
#tar zcvf old-kernel-2.4.19.tar.gz linux

I have the 'patch-2.4.22.tar.gz' and the 'old-kernel-2.4.19.tar.gz' files in my /usr/src/ directory.

Now it says:

#zcat patch-2.4.22 [verbar]
^^^^----- what's that?? ain't working
#patch -p0 patch-2.4.22.tar.gz

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^---- it ain't working either, it need another file, so I tryed unsuccesfully with the 'old-kernel-2.4.19.tar.gz' file

So since in the doc it's more like:
#zcat patch-2.4.22 patch -p0 patch-2.4.22.tar.gz
i've tried it but ... not working.

What is wrong???

The Mandrake kernel is too heavily modified to make use of patches from kernel.org. And the system depends on those changes, so it isn't a good idea to install a whole kernel from kernel.org either.

You can get a newer kernel as an upgrade. Set up urpmi as at http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon , then become root and type "urpmi kernel." If it gives a list, choose the one with the highest number ;) (Currently kernel-2.4.22.4mdk-1-1mdk.i586, at least on cooker, I don't know what's available on standard mdk.) At any rate, I know at least kernel-2.4.21-25mdk was out. urpmi will get and install that kernel for you.

Do you have the adress of cooker? I've tried like 5 servers in usa and it report "everything already isntalled" even if I'm still 2.4.19 :(

I don't think that it will automaticly upgrade the kernel for you.

Try urpmq kernel. Select the highest that you want and urpmi kernel-2.4.21.0.25mdk (if you choose that one).

It should add another lilo entry (or grub).

Note that anything like the binary NVIDIA module will need to be recompiled.

Anyways, forget it guys, messing with the kernel updates & rpms just gave me an headache and my linux box did not want to boot the kernel after a reboot (init error). So I make a backup of my .conf and reinstalled on 9.1 wich did not worked (cant access either kde or gnome after the installation (seem to run something in a loop since after a 5hr sleep it was still looking as if it was loading gnome...). So this morning i've started a fresh install of 9.0 (last working mdk version I had). I hope everything goes well toninght when I come back from work.

I was considering doing just that, so I could apply the latest -ac patch (which will NOT work with the mandrake patched sources...). Do you have any idea what changes the Mandrake system depends on, and what would happen if I were to try a vanilla 2.4.22 kernel with the latest -ac patch?

I'm currently faced with the problem that I *need* the -ac patches to get my SATA working properly, but they can't be applied to the Mandrake sources, so I either have to do this or abandon Mandrake entirely, which I really don't want to have to do...

-->Steve Bennett

Me, it was for Nessus... I needed a rpm that needed x number of dependencies and so on til I needed 2.4.22 but Mdk 9.0 is 2.4.19. Man.. I'm seem to be stock. I just finished rebuilding the server not since upgranding the kernels gave me a kernel init error so I reinstalled 1 time 9.1 over 9.0 (not working) the formated and 9.1 (not working) and this morning I started the install of 9.0 before going to work and I just finished pfffff I'm tired now but the gateway is working, firewall on, dns ok, dhcp fine, samba tomorow lol... Anyways I would like to know too what mandrake can modify so much on the kernel I search a bit their site but I did not found that info.

You can INSTALL a vanilla kernel, or an ac-patched kernel, and the system should boot and run, but there will probably be a lot of weirdness.
Mandrake has the supermount patch, the xfs patch, and who knows what else. You can try doing the patch set at http://members.optusnet.com.au/ckolivas/kernel/ in addition to AC, as it adds some of the stuff mandrake does.

Be aware that if you try to do more than one patch, there may be rejections, because of interference. In that case the differences are saved as .rej files, which you should examine manually and see if you can reconcile the changes. If you're not comfortable enough to do that, try booting a kernel with just ac and see whether it works alright.