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Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07001Intro
2=====
3
4This document is designed to provide a list of the minimum levels of
5software necessary to run the 2.6 kernels, as well as provide brief
6instructions regarding any other "Gotchas" users may encounter when
7trying life on the Bleeding Edge. If upgrading from a pre-2.4.x
8kernel, please consult the Changes file included with 2.4.x kernels for
9additional information; most of that information will not be repeated
10here. Basically, this document assumes that your system is already
11functional and running at least 2.4.x kernels.
12
13This document is originally based on my "Changes" file for 2.0.x kernels
14and therefore owes credit to the same people as that file (Jared Mauch,
15Axel Boldt, Alessandro Sigala, and countless other users all over the
16'net).
17
18The latest revision of this document, in various formats, can always
19be found at <http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/kaboom/linux/Changes-2.4/>.
20
21Feel free to translate this document. If you do so, please send me a
22URL to your translation for inclusion in future revisions of this
23document.
24
25Smotrite file <http://oblom.rnc.ru/linux/kernel/Changes.ru>, yavlyaushisya
26russkim perevodom dannogo documenta.
27
28Visite <http://www2.adi.uam.es/~ender/tecnico/> para obtener la traducción
29al español de este documento en varios formatos.
30
31Eine deutsche Version dieser Datei finden Sie unter
32<http://www.stefan-winter.de/Changes-2.4.0.txt>.
33
34Last updated: October 29th, 2002
35
36Chris Ricker (kaboom@gatech.edu or chris.ricker@genetics.utah.edu).
37
38Current Minimal Requirements
39============================
40
41Upgrade to at *least* these software revisions before thinking you've
42encountered a bug! If you're unsure what version you're currently
43running, the suggested command should tell you.
44
45Again, keep in mind that this list assumes you are already
46functionally running a Linux 2.4 kernel. Also, not all tools are
47necessary on all systems; obviously, if you don't have any PCMCIA (PC
48Card) hardware, for example, you probably needn't concern yourself
49with pcmcia-cs.
50
51o Gnu C 2.95.3 # gcc --version
52o Gnu make 3.79.1 # make --version
53o binutils 2.12 # ld -v
54o util-linux 2.10o # fdformat --version
55o module-init-tools 0.9.10 # depmod -V
56o e2fsprogs 1.29 # tune2fs
57o jfsutils 1.1.3 # fsck.jfs -V
58o reiserfsprogs 3.6.3 # reiserfsck -V 2>&1|grep reiserfsprogs
59o xfsprogs 2.6.0 # xfs_db -V
60o pcmcia-cs 3.1.21 # cardmgr -V
61o quota-tools 3.09 # quota -V
62o PPP 2.4.0 # pppd --version
63o isdn4k-utils 3.1pre1 # isdnctrl 2>&1|grep version
64o nfs-utils 1.0.5 # showmount --version
65o procps 3.2.0 # ps --version
John Levon0c0a4002005-06-23 22:02:47 -070066o oprofile 0.9 # oprofiled --version
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070067
68Kernel compilation
69==================
70
71GCC
72---
73
74The gcc version requirements may vary depending on the type of CPU in your
75computer. The next paragraph applies to users of x86 CPUs, but not
76necessarily to users of other CPUs. Users of other CPUs should obtain
77information about their gcc version requirements from another source.
78
79The recommended compiler for the kernel is gcc 2.95.x (x >= 3), and it
80should be used when you need absolute stability. You may use gcc 3.0.x
81instead if you wish, although it may cause problems. Later versions of gcc
82have not received much testing for Linux kernel compilation, and there are
83almost certainly bugs (mainly, but not exclusively, in the kernel) that
84will need to be fixed in order to use these compilers. In any case, using
85pgcc instead of plain gcc is just asking for trouble.
86
87The Red Hat gcc 2.96 compiler subtree can also be used to build this tree.
88You should ensure you use gcc-2.96-74 or later. gcc-2.96-54 will not build
89the kernel correctly.
90
91In addition, please pay attention to compiler optimization. Anything
92greater than -O2 may not be wise. Similarly, if you choose to use gcc-2.95.x
93or derivatives, be sure not to use -fstrict-aliasing (which, depending on
94your version of gcc 2.95.x, may necessitate using -fno-strict-aliasing).
95
96Make
97----
98
99You will need Gnu make 3.79.1 or later to build the kernel.
100
101Binutils
102--------
103
104Linux on IA-32 has recently switched from using as86 to using gas for
105assembling the 16-bit boot code, removing the need for as86 to compile
106your kernel. This change does, however, mean that you need a recent
107release of binutils.
108
109System utilities
110================
111
112Architectural changes
113---------------------
114
115DevFS has been obsoleted in favour of udev
116(http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/)
117
11832-bit UID support is now in place. Have fun!
119
120Linux documentation for functions is transitioning to inline
121documentation via specially-formatted comments near their
122definitions in the source. These comments can be combined with the
123SGML templates in the Documentation/DocBook directory to make DocBook
124files, which can then be converted by DocBook stylesheets to PostScript,
125HTML, PDF files, and several other formats. In order to convert from
126DocBook format to a format of your choice, you'll need to install Jade as
127well as the desired DocBook stylesheets.
128
129Util-linux
130----------
131
132New versions of util-linux provide *fdisk support for larger disks,
133support new options to mount, recognize more supported partition
134types, have a fdformat which works with 2.4 kernels, and similar goodies.
135You'll probably want to upgrade.
136
137Ksymoops
138--------
139
140If the unthinkable happens and your kernel oopses, you'll need a 2.4
141version of ksymoops to decode the report; see REPORTING-BUGS in the
142root of the Linux source for more information.
143
144Module-Init-Tools
145-----------------
146
147A new module loader is now in the kernel that requires module-init-tools
148to use. It is backward compatible with the 2.4.x series kernels.
149
150Mkinitrd
151--------
152
153These changes to the /lib/modules file tree layout also require that
154mkinitrd be upgraded.
155
156E2fsprogs
157---------
158
159The latest version of e2fsprogs fixes several bugs in fsck and
160debugfs. Obviously, it's a good idea to upgrade.
161
162JFSutils
163--------
164
165The jfsutils package contains the utilities for the file system.
166The following utilities are available:
167o fsck.jfs - initiate replay of the transaction log, and check
168 and repair a JFS formatted partition.
169o mkfs.jfs - create a JFS formatted partition.
170o other file system utilities are also available in this package.
171
172Reiserfsprogs
173-------------
174
175The reiserfsprogs package should be used for reiserfs-3.6.x
176(Linux kernels 2.4.x). It is a combined package and contains working
177versions of mkreiserfs, resize_reiserfs, debugreiserfs and
178reiserfsck. These utils work on both i386 and alpha platforms.
179
180Xfsprogs
181--------
182
183The latest version of xfsprogs contains mkfs.xfs, xfs_db, and the
184xfs_repair utilities, among others, for the XFS filesystem. It is
185architecture independent and any version from 2.0.0 onward should
186work correctly with this version of the XFS kernel code (2.6.0 or
187later is recommended, due to some significant improvements).
188
189
190Pcmcia-cs
191---------
192
193PCMCIA (PC Card) support is now partially implemented in the main
194kernel source. Pay attention when you recompile your kernel ;-).
195Also, be sure to upgrade to the latest pcmcia-cs release.
196
197Quota-tools
198-----------
199
200Support for 32 bit uid's and gid's is required if you want to use
201the newer version 2 quota format. Quota-tools version 3.07 and
202newer has this support. Use the recommended version or newer
203from the table above.
204
205Intel IA32 microcode
206--------------------
207
208A driver has been added to allow updating of Intel IA32 microcode,
209accessible as both a devfs regular file and as a normal (misc)
210character device. If you are not using devfs you may need to:
211
212mkdir /dev/cpu
213mknod /dev/cpu/microcode c 10 184
214chmod 0644 /dev/cpu/microcode
215
216as root before you can use this. You'll probably also want to
217get the user-space microcode_ctl utility to use with this.
218
219Powertweak
220----------
221
222If you are running v0.1.17 or earlier, you should upgrade to
223version v0.99.0 or higher. Running old versions may cause problems
224with programs using shared memory.
225
226udev
227----
228udev is a userspace application for populating /dev dynamically with
229only entries for devices actually present. udev replaces devfs.
230
231Networking
232==========
233
234General changes
235---------------
236
237If you have advanced network configuration needs, you should probably
238consider using the network tools from ip-route2.
239
240Packet Filter / NAT
241-------------------
242The packet filtering and NAT code uses the same tools like the previous 2.4.x
243kernel series (iptables). It still includes backwards-compatibility modules
244for 2.2.x-style ipchains and 2.0.x-style ipfwadm.
245
246PPP
247---
248
249The PPP driver has been restructured to support multilink and to
250enable it to operate over diverse media layers. If you use PPP,
251upgrade pppd to at least 2.4.0.
252
253If you are not using devfs, you must have the device file /dev/ppp
254which can be made by:
255
256mknod /dev/ppp c 108 0
257
258as root.
259
260If you use devfsd and build ppp support as modules, you will need
261the following in your /etc/devfsd.conf file:
262
263LOOKUP PPP MODLOAD
264
265Isdn4k-utils
266------------
267
268Due to changes in the length of the phone number field, isdn4k-utils
269needs to be recompiled or (preferably) upgraded.
270
271NFS-utils
272---------
273
274In 2.4 and earlier kernels, the nfs server needed to know about any
275client that expected to be able to access files via NFS. This
276information would be given to the kernel by "mountd" when the client
277mounted the filesystem, or by "exportfs" at system startup. exportfs
278would take information about active clients from /var/lib/nfs/rmtab.
279
280This approach is quite fragile as it depends on rmtab being correct
281which is not always easy, particularly when trying to implement
282fail-over. Even when the system is working well, rmtab suffers from
283getting lots of old entries that never get removed.
284
285With 2.6 we have the option of having the kernel tell mountd when it
286gets a request from an unknown host, and mountd can give appropriate
287export information to the kernel. This removes the dependency on
288rmtab and means that the kernel only needs to know about currently
289active clients.
290
291To enable this new functionality, you need to:
292
293 mount -t nfsd nfsd /proc/fs/nfs
294
295before running exportfs or mountd. It is recommended that all NFS
296services be protected from the internet-at-large by a firewall where
297that is possible.
298
299Getting updated software
300========================
301
302Kernel compilation
303******************
304
305gcc 2.95.3
306----------
307o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-2.95.3.tar.gz>
308
309Make
310----
311o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/>
312
313Binutils
314--------
315o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/devel/binutils/>
316
317System utilities
318****************
319
320Util-linux
321----------
322o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>
323
324Ksymoops
325--------
326o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/v2.4/>
327
328Module-Init-Tools
329-----------------
330o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/rusty/modules/>
331
332Mkinitrd
333--------
334o <ftp://rawhide.redhat.com/pub/rawhide/SRPMS/SRPMS/>
335
336E2fsprogs
337---------
338o <http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/e2fsprogs/e2fsprogs-1.29.tar.gz>
339
340JFSutils
341--------
342o <http://jfs.sourceforge.net/>
343
344Reiserfsprogs
345-------------
346o <http://www.namesys.com/pub/reiserfsprogs/reiserfsprogs-3.6.3.tar.gz>
347
348Xfsprogs
349--------
350o <ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/download/>
351
352Pcmcia-cs
353---------
354o <ftp://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/pub/pcmcia-cs/pcmcia-cs-3.1.21.tar.gz>
355
356Quota-tools
357----------
358o <http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxquota/>
359
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700360DocBook Stylesheets
361-------------------
362o <http://nwalsh.com/docbook/dsssl/>
363
Martin Waitz8b0c2d92005-05-01 08:59:27 -0700364XMLTO XSLT Frontend
365-------------------
366o <http://cyberelk.net/tim/xmlto/>
367
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700368Intel P6 microcode
369------------------
370o <http://www.urbanmyth.org/microcode/>
371
372Powertweak
373----------
374o <http://powertweak.sourceforge.net/>
375
376udev
377----
378o <http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev.html>
379
380Networking
381**********
382
383PPP
384---
385o <ftp://ftp.samba.org/pub/ppp/ppp-2.4.0.tar.gz>
386
387Isdn4k-utils
388------------
389o <ftp://ftp.isdn4linux.de/pub/isdn4linux/utils/isdn4k-utils.v3.1pre1.tar.gz>
390
391NFS-utils
392---------
393o <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=14>
394
395Iptables
396--------
397o <http://www.iptables.org/downloads.html>
398
399Ip-route2
400---------
401o <ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/net/ip-routing/iproute2-2.2.4-now-ss991023.tar.gz>
402
403OProfile
404--------
405o <http://oprofile.sf.net/download/>
406
407NFS-Utils
408---------
409o <http://nfs.sourceforge.net/>
410