Upgrading Slack to the 2.6 kernel
 

So now that the 2.6 Linux kernel is officially out I want to upgrade.

Will the kernel upgrade step-by-step guide posted at the top of this forum work with upgrading to 2.6, or are there some things in 2.6 that need special attention?

Do I have to wait until the Slackware package browser has the 2.6 kernel listed, or can I just go and download 2.6 from kernel.org and unpack it to /usr/src/linux?

Finally, if I do download the 2.6 kernel from the Slackware package browser do I also have to download the kernel-headers, kernel-modules, and kernel-ide files as well?

You can download the source directly from kernel.org and use it no problem. It will include everything you need, just compile as you would normally. Might I suggest using 'make xconfig' and loading your old config file from /boot? Unless you know your hardware extremely well, this is usually easiest. You can then make whatever changes you want, but at least have the necessities already chosen for you since you know your box is running properly now ;)

DaOne's guide will work just fine.

Would it be advisable to use my old .config file from 2.4.23 with a 2.6 kernel? Aren't there some new features with 2.6 that wouldn't be covered with a 2.4.23 .config file?

Yes, but you would have the chance to look it all over and make any necessary changes. At least you'd know the necessities would be there.

BTW, I can't BELIEVE I hadn't read elsewhere that 2.6 stable was finally released! I just found out from your post :) Guess I've been sleeping too much...

I notice in DaOne's kernel guide it says:

I looked for the line '#export INSTALL_PATH=/boot' in the 2.6.0 Makefile but I don't see it there. I take it that we don't need to do this step with the 2.6.0 kernel?

Also, I notice, during the 2.6.0 compile, that you don't need to do the 'make dep' step anymore. If you type 'make dep' it states:

after "make menuconfig" do just:

$ make bzImage
$ make modules modules_install
$ cp arch/..../bzImage /boot/vmlinuz ## or whetever your kernel name is
$ lilo
$ reboot

M.

Nope, after you configured the kernel you can just do "make"
(check what "make" does by typing: "make help")

By default "make" does:
vmlinux - Build the bare kernel
modules - Build all modules
bzImage - Compressed kernel image (arch/i386/boot/bzImage)

So after that you can just:

su -c "make modules_install"

and then copy kernel image, System.map and your current .config to your /boot directory
etc...

hmmmm ... that is a nice shortcut :) ... I saw that after configuring, but I wanted to do it the "normal" was :)

thanx ...

M.

Question...downloaded, configured, and was compiling the 2.6.0 kernel when I got the following error:

CC [M] drivers/usb/net/usbnet.o
drivers/usb/net/usbnet.c:3052:2: #error You need to configure some hardware for this driver
drivers/usb/net/usbnet.c:308: warning: `always_connected' defined but not used
make[3]: *** [drivers/usb/net/usbnet.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [drivers/usb/net] Error 2
make[1]: *** [drivers/usb] Error 2
make: *** [drivers] Error 2

Besides the seemingly silly error message (almost worthy of M$ -- just kidding) ... does this mean anything to anyone? I did go through and remove quite a bit of stuff from the .config file before compiling the kernel this time. Perhaps I removed something I shouldn't have?

instead of copying the kernel image and map, i edit the Makefile install_export path line or whatever. then do make install. it copies everything for you and even runs lilo. and the line is still in the 2.6.0 kernel Makefile. im upgrading to 2.6.0 stable now.

Here is a guide I found discussing the upgrade.
http://kerneltrap.org/node/view/799

As I thought, in my zeal to remove all the stuff I didn't need from my kernel, I didn't quite get the .config file correct. Based on what I found here:

http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/lin...09.1/0313.html

I discovered that I left one option CONFIG_USB_USBNET set to be built as a module, but didn't select any of the Host-To-Host adapters for it to use. Since I don't need this functionality, I simply replaced

CONFIG_USB_USBNET = m

with

# CONFIG_USB_USBNET is not set

in my .config file.

I'm posting my resolution in case anyone else runs into the same problem.

As far as uncommenting this line, although it isn't line 74 in 2.6.0 Makefie, it is there. I don't have access to it now, but if I remember correctly, it is deeper in the Makefile.

And to add...


By default "make" does:
vmlinux - Build the bare kernel
modules - Build all modules
bzImage - Compressed kernel image (arch/i386/boot/bzImage)

This is much nicer (and faster now) huh?

And yes, make install will still work. Just be sure to edit lilo.conf and the Makefile accordingly.

I think I found it, line 450 in /usr/src/linux/Makefile.