MDK RPM update: risks upgrading kernel-source from 2.4.22-10mdk to 2.4.22-26mdk?
 

Hello all, this is my first post here ;-)

Well, as you will quickly imagine I am quite newbie with kernels upgrades and I want to be sure what do I have to do to upgrade it and the risks on my system.

In fact, I do not plan to upgrade the kernel (actually 2.4.22-10mdk) to the fresh 2.6.x. (too much to lern before as I don't want to crash the system...now that it works!). For the moment, my question only concerns about an upgrade of the kernel-source package that RPM-update recommends (MDK 9.2).

In fact, I recently installed kernel-source-2.4.22-10mdk as was required when installing the NVIDIA drivers 4363 (not the 4496 (bug previously experienced) nor the last ver 5328 as this last one crashed my X server in a previous attempt). Now the NVIDIA driver works fine.
Then, few days after, I checked for Mandrake RPMs upgrades and found that it strongly recommends me to upgrade to kernel-source-2.4.22-26mdk.

- How to upgrade it? I just let it install the rpm? Something else need to be done?
- Do I risk to crash the nvidia driver? If so, what to do to preserve it? Reinstall it and that's it?
- Need then to upgrade the kernel???
- Really need to upgrade the kernel-source?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Currux

You should get the source too and install it at the same time. It is just an 'rpm -i ...' process, very simple. As you say, the nvidia drivers will need to be removed then reinstalled after the kernel/source update.

The kernel rpm handles all the changes to lilo, so it is really very simple to upgrade this way.

Hi!

Thanks for answering. What do you mean when you say that I should install the source at the same time? You talk about upgrading "kernel-2.4.22-26mdk" and "kernel-source-2.4.22-26mdk" at the same time? (which one first?)
If not, I do not follow you... :-( sorry

Currux

The easiest way for a new mandrake user to install and uninstall software packages is to use rpmdrake (you can type rpmdrake in the console or go via Mandrake Control Center or Via Configuration -> Packaging). This interface will manage software dependencies and in the case of installing updated RPMs you can configure an ftp server as an update source. If you want to install a new kernel RPM and its source RPM you can do it via this tool.
Alternatively as the root user in the console type
rpm -ivh (full name of rpm you want to install)
for both the kernel and it's source.
Now I am a bit of a newb about kernels and sources but you can reboot and the bootup screen (usually LILO on mandrake) will give you the choice of using the old kernel or the new one.

Hi Currux,

What Colnago meant is that you may install the kernel 2.4.22-26mdk rpm which is the binary. This alone is enough to update your linux system to the latest kernel version. However, when you update a kernel, it is important that you install also the kernel source code so that if you want to install another package/software that needs to be compiled and that requires the kernel source code, it will be there. For example, the Nvidia driver requires that you compile it with the kernel source code. By default, Mandrake does not install the kernel source code.

Hello all!

Thanks a lot for your answers! I understand now what do I have to do.
Thank you! :-)

Currux

very interesting postings on this subject to this newbie who considers to upgrade his kernel in the future; today, I visted Mandrake Security site and they have a section with the words "Black Magic" discussing the procedure that may be of interest. It is somewhat dated as it refers to Mandrake 8.1 and the procedure for preserving the old kernel in Lilo and Grub may be outdated also.

Hello!

Thanks for those news!

Currux

I think the lastest 2.4.22 is 28mdk. Unfortuately, the guys at PLF haven't updated the preemptive multimedia kernel with the latest patches yet, so I'm still using their hacked 26mm version myself. Takes some manual work to get it installed right -- didn't link all the stuff in /boot dir right as I recall -- but well worth the effort.

Anyway, when you install new kernal source code from their RPMs, Mandrake copies it to a new dir in /usr/src with the kernel's name and changes the linked dir /usr/src/linux to point to the new dir. Bottom line is Mandy's RPM packages never "upgrade" the kernel or kernel source code, they just change the links. All the older versions stay there unless you manually delete them. So there's very little risk installing newer versions; you can always revert back to a previous kernel and its source code.

Hi Crito,

Back in February, 2.4.22-26mdk was the latest one. Now, yes it is 2.4.22-28mdk. ;o)

You are right about all the kernels not being deleted when a new one is installed. This is good if you want to revert to a previous version, if the current one is not working properly. However, keep in mind that if you have specific packages that need compilation (like a NVIDIA driver or a soft modem driver), you still cannot just revert back to an older kernel, i.e. you also need to recompile those packages first.