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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
Linus Torvalds5adaf852011-07-11 16:48:38 -07005software necessary to run the 3.0 kernels.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -07006
7This document is originally based on my "Changes" file for 2.0.x kernels
8and therefore owes credit to the same people as that file (Jared Mauch,
9Axel Boldt, Alessandro Sigala, and countless other users all over the
10'net).
11
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070012Current Minimal Requirements
13============================
14
15Upgrade to at *least* these software revisions before thinking you've
16encountered a bug! If you're unsure what version you're currently
17running, the suggested command should tell you.
18
Linus Torvalds5adaf852011-07-11 16:48:38 -070019Again, keep in mind that this list assumes you are already functionally
20running a Linux kernel. Also, not all tools are necessary on all
21systems; obviously, if you don't have any ISDN hardware, for example,
22you probably needn't concern yourself with isdn4k-utils.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070023
Andrew Mortona1365642006-01-08 01:04:09 -080024o Gnu C 3.2 # gcc --version
Adam Lackorzynski2185a5e2009-06-14 22:38:59 +020025o Gnu make 3.80 # make --version
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070026o binutils 2.12 # ld -v
27o util-linux 2.10o # fdformat --version
28o module-init-tools 0.9.10 # depmod -V
Bill Nottingham242f45d2009-01-29 16:28:40 -080029o e2fsprogs 1.41.4 # e2fsck -V
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070030o jfsutils 1.1.3 # fsck.jfs -V
Christian Kujaue06c3742011-03-22 16:35:02 -070031o reiserfsprogs 3.6.3 # reiserfsck -V
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070032o xfsprogs 2.6.0 # xfs_db -V
Bill Nottingham242f45d2009-01-29 16:28:40 -080033o squashfs-tools 4.0 # mksquashfs -version
34o btrfs-progs 0.18 # btrfsck
Robert P. J. Daye4121712006-09-11 12:39:19 -040035o pcmciautils 004 # pccardctl -V
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070036o quota-tools 3.09 # quota -V
37o PPP 2.4.0 # pppd --version
38o isdn4k-utils 3.1pre1 # isdnctrl 2>&1|grep version
39o nfs-utils 1.0.5 # showmount --version
40o procps 3.2.0 # ps --version
John Levon0c0a4002005-06-23 22:02:47 -070041o oprofile 0.9 # oprofiled --version
Christian Kujaue06c3742011-03-22 16:35:02 -070042o udev 081 # udevd --version
43o grub 0.93 # grub --version || grub-install --version
44o mcelog 0.6 # mcelog --version
Jan Engelhardtd879e192010-03-22 19:39:04 +010045o iptables 1.4.2 # iptables -V
Jan Engelhardt7a922632009-12-14 14:52:10 +010046
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070047
48Kernel compilation
49==================
50
51GCC
52---
53
54The gcc version requirements may vary depending on the type of CPU in your
Andrew Mortona1365642006-01-08 01:04:09 -080055computer.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070056
57Make
58----
59
Adam Lackorzynski2185a5e2009-06-14 22:38:59 +020060You will need Gnu make 3.80 or later to build the kernel.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070061
62Binutils
63--------
64
65Linux on IA-32 has recently switched from using as86 to using gas for
66assembling the 16-bit boot code, removing the need for as86 to compile
67your kernel. This change does, however, mean that you need a recent
68release of binutils.
69
Jose Luis Perez Diez08219622009-06-17 16:26:30 -070070Perl
71----
72
73You will need perl 5 and the following modules: Getopt::Long, Getopt::Std,
74File::Basename, and File::Find to build the kernel.
75
Alan221069b2014-05-19 14:02:17 +010076BC
77--
78
79You will need bc to build kernels 3.10 and higher
80
Jose Luis Perez Diez08219622009-06-17 16:26:30 -070081
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -070082System utilities
83================
84
85Architectural changes
86---------------------
87
88DevFS has been obsoleted in favour of udev
89(http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/)
90
9132-bit UID support is now in place. Have fun!
92
93Linux documentation for functions is transitioning to inline
94documentation via specially-formatted comments near their
95definitions in the source. These comments can be combined with the
96SGML templates in the Documentation/DocBook directory to make DocBook
97files, which can then be converted by DocBook stylesheets to PostScript,
98HTML, PDF files, and several other formats. In order to convert from
99DocBook format to a format of your choice, you'll need to install Jade as
100well as the desired DocBook stylesheets.
101
102Util-linux
103----------
104
105New versions of util-linux provide *fdisk support for larger disks,
106support new options to mount, recognize more supported partition
107types, have a fdformat which works with 2.4 kernels, and similar goodies.
108You'll probably want to upgrade.
109
110Ksymoops
111--------
112
Jesper Juhl62a07e62005-11-07 01:01:03 -0800113If the unthinkable happens and your kernel oopses, you may need the
114ksymoops tool to decode it, but in most cases you don't.
Linus Torvalds5adaf852011-07-11 16:48:38 -0700115It is generally preferred to build the kernel with CONFIG_KALLSYMS so
116that it produces readable dumps that can be used as-is (this also
117produces better output than ksymoops). If for some reason your kernel
118is not build with CONFIG_KALLSYMS and you have no way to rebuild and
119reproduce the Oops with that option, then you can still decode that Oops
120with ksymoops.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700121
122Module-Init-Tools
123-----------------
124
125A new module loader is now in the kernel that requires module-init-tools
126to use. It is backward compatible with the 2.4.x series kernels.
127
128Mkinitrd
129--------
130
131These changes to the /lib/modules file tree layout also require that
132mkinitrd be upgraded.
133
134E2fsprogs
135---------
136
137The latest version of e2fsprogs fixes several bugs in fsck and
138debugfs. Obviously, it's a good idea to upgrade.
139
140JFSutils
141--------
142
143The jfsutils package contains the utilities for the file system.
144The following utilities are available:
145o fsck.jfs - initiate replay of the transaction log, and check
146 and repair a JFS formatted partition.
147o mkfs.jfs - create a JFS formatted partition.
148o other file system utilities are also available in this package.
149
150Reiserfsprogs
151-------------
152
153The reiserfsprogs package should be used for reiserfs-3.6.x
154(Linux kernels 2.4.x). It is a combined package and contains working
155versions of mkreiserfs, resize_reiserfs, debugreiserfs and
156reiserfsck. These utils work on both i386 and alpha platforms.
157
158Xfsprogs
159--------
160
161The latest version of xfsprogs contains mkfs.xfs, xfs_db, and the
162xfs_repair utilities, among others, for the XFS filesystem. It is
163architecture independent and any version from 2.0.0 onward should
164work correctly with this version of the XFS kernel code (2.6.0 or
165later is recommended, due to some significant improvements).
166
Dominik Brodowski5085cb22005-06-27 16:28:45 -0700167PCMCIAutils
168-----------
169
170PCMCIAutils replaces pcmcia-cs (see below). It properly sets up
171PCMCIA sockets at system startup and loads the appropriate modules
172for 16-bit PCMCIA devices if the kernel is modularized and the hotplug
173subsystem is used.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700174
175Pcmcia-cs
176---------
177
178PCMCIA (PC Card) support is now partially implemented in the main
Dominik Brodowski5085cb22005-06-27 16:28:45 -0700179kernel source. The "pcmciautils" package (see above) replaces pcmcia-cs
180for newest kernels.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700181
182Quota-tools
183-----------
184
185Support for 32 bit uid's and gid's is required if you want to use
186the newer version 2 quota format. Quota-tools version 3.07 and
187newer has this support. Use the recommended version or newer
188from the table above.
189
190Intel IA32 microcode
191--------------------
192
193A driver has been added to allow updating of Intel IA32 microcode,
Greg Kroah-Hartman890fbae2005-06-20 21:15:16 -0700194accessible as a normal (misc) character device. If you are not using
195udev you may need to:
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700196
197mkdir /dev/cpu
198mknod /dev/cpu/microcode c 10 184
199chmod 0644 /dev/cpu/microcode
200
201as root before you can use this. You'll probably also want to
202get the user-space microcode_ctl utility to use with this.
203
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700204udev
205----
206udev is a userspace application for populating /dev dynamically with
Greg Kroah-Hartman890fbae2005-06-20 21:15:16 -0700207only entries for devices actually present. udev replaces the basic
Jan Engelhardt03a67a42006-11-30 05:32:19 +0100208functionality of devfs, while allowing persistent device naming for
Greg Kroah-Hartman890fbae2005-06-20 21:15:16 -0700209devices.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700210
Miklos Szeredi909021e2005-09-27 21:45:20 -0700211FUSE
212----
213
214Needs libfuse 2.4.0 or later. Absolute minimum is 2.3.0 but mount
215options 'direct_io' and 'kernel_cache' won't work.
216
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700217Networking
218==========
219
220General changes
221---------------
222
223If you have advanced network configuration needs, you should probably
224consider using the network tools from ip-route2.
225
226Packet Filter / NAT
227-------------------
228The packet filtering and NAT code uses the same tools like the previous 2.4.x
229kernel series (iptables). It still includes backwards-compatibility modules
230for 2.2.x-style ipchains and 2.0.x-style ipfwadm.
231
232PPP
233---
234
235The PPP driver has been restructured to support multilink and to
236enable it to operate over diverse media layers. If you use PPP,
237upgrade pppd to at least 2.4.0.
238
Greg Kroah-Hartman890fbae2005-06-20 21:15:16 -0700239If you are not using udev, you must have the device file /dev/ppp
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700240which can be made by:
241
242mknod /dev/ppp c 108 0
243
244as root.
245
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700246Isdn4k-utils
247------------
248
249Due to changes in the length of the phone number field, isdn4k-utils
250needs to be recompiled or (preferably) upgraded.
251
252NFS-utils
253---------
254
Linus Torvalds5adaf852011-07-11 16:48:38 -0700255In ancient (2.4 and earlier) kernels, the nfs server needed to know
256about any client that expected to be able to access files via NFS. This
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700257information would be given to the kernel by "mountd" when the client
258mounted the filesystem, or by "exportfs" at system startup. exportfs
259would take information about active clients from /var/lib/nfs/rmtab.
260
261This approach is quite fragile as it depends on rmtab being correct
262which is not always easy, particularly when trying to implement
263fail-over. Even when the system is working well, rmtab suffers from
264getting lots of old entries that never get removed.
265
Linus Torvalds5adaf852011-07-11 16:48:38 -0700266With modern kernels we have the option of having the kernel tell mountd
267when it gets a request from an unknown host, and mountd can give
268appropriate export information to the kernel. This removes the
269dependency on rmtab and means that the kernel only needs to know about
270currently active clients.
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700271
272To enable this new functionality, you need to:
273
Robert P. J. Daye4121712006-09-11 12:39:19 -0400274 mount -t nfsd nfsd /proc/fs/nfsd
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700275
276before running exportfs or mountd. It is recommended that all NFS
277services be protected from the internet-at-large by a firewall where
278that is possible.
279
Andi Kleen172d8992009-04-28 23:37:02 +0200280mcelog
281------
282
Paul Bollec8c3f7d2014-07-12 09:54:52 -0700283On x86 kernels the mcelog utility is needed to process and log machine check
284events when CONFIG_X86_MCE is enabled. Machine check events are errors reported
285by the CPU. Processing them is strongly encouraged.
Andi Kleen172d8992009-04-28 23:37:02 +0200286
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700287Getting updated software
288========================
289
290Kernel compilation
291******************
292
Andrew Mortona1365642006-01-08 01:04:09 -0800293gcc
294---
295o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700296
297Make
298----
299o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/>
300
301Binutils
302--------
303o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/devel/binutils/>
304
305System utilities
306****************
307
308Util-linux
309----------
310o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>
311
312Ksymoops
313--------
314o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/v2.4/>
315
316Module-Init-Tools
317-----------------
318o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/rusty/modules/>
319
320Mkinitrd
321--------
Justin P. Mattocka6557732010-07-03 15:46:13 -0700322o <https://code.launchpad.net/initrd-tools/main>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700323
324E2fsprogs
325---------
326o <http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/e2fsprogs/e2fsprogs-1.29.tar.gz>
327
328JFSutils
329--------
330o <http://jfs.sourceforge.net/>
331
332Reiserfsprogs
333-------------
Justin P. Mattocka6557732010-07-03 15:46:13 -0700334o <http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/fs/reiserfs/>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700335
336Xfsprogs
337--------
Justin P. Mattocka6557732010-07-03 15:46:13 -0700338o <ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700339
Dominik Brodowski5085cb22005-06-27 16:28:45 -0700340Pcmciautils
341-----------
342o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/>
343
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700344Pcmcia-cs
345---------
Dominik Brodowski5085cb22005-06-27 16:28:45 -0700346o <http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700347
348Quota-tools
349----------
350o <http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxquota/>
351
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700352DocBook Stylesheets
353-------------------
354o <http://nwalsh.com/docbook/dsssl/>
355
Martin Waitz8b0c2d92005-05-01 08:59:27 -0700356XMLTO XSLT Frontend
357-------------------
358o <http://cyberelk.net/tim/xmlto/>
359
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700360Intel P6 microcode
361------------------
362o <http://www.urbanmyth.org/microcode/>
363
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700364udev
365----
366o <http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev.html>
367
Miklos Szeredi909021e2005-09-27 21:45:20 -0700368FUSE
369----
370o <http://sourceforge.net/projects/fuse>
371
Andi Kleen172d8992009-04-28 23:37:02 +0200372mcelog
373------
Justin P. Mattocka6557732010-07-03 15:46:13 -0700374o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/cpu/mce/>
Andi Kleen172d8992009-04-28 23:37:02 +0200375
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700376Networking
377**********
378
379PPP
380---
Justin P. Mattocka6557732010-07-03 15:46:13 -0700381o <ftp://ftp.samba.org/pub/ppp/>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700382
383Isdn4k-utils
384------------
Justin P. Mattocka6557732010-07-03 15:46:13 -0700385o <ftp://ftp.isdn4linux.de/pub/isdn4linux/utils/>
Linus Torvalds1da177e2005-04-16 15:20:36 -0700386
387NFS-utils
388---------
389o <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=14>
390
391Iptables
392--------
393o <http://www.iptables.org/downloads.html>
394
395Ip-route2
396---------
397o <ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/net/ip-routing/iproute2-2.2.4-now-ss991023.tar.gz>
398
399OProfile
400--------
401o <http://oprofile.sf.net/download/>
402
403NFS-Utils
404---------
405o <http://nfs.sourceforge.net/>
406