| Intro |
| ===== |
| |
| This document is designed to provide a list of the minimum levels of |
| software necessary to run the 2.6 kernels, as well as provide brief |
| instructions regarding any other "Gotchas" users may encounter when |
| trying life on the Bleeding Edge. If upgrading from a pre-2.4.x |
| kernel, please consult the Changes file included with 2.4.x kernels for |
| additional information; most of that information will not be repeated |
| here. Basically, this document assumes that your system is already |
| functional and running at least 2.4.x kernels. |
| |
| This document is originally based on my "Changes" file for 2.0.x kernels |
| and therefore owes credit to the same people as that file (Jared Mauch, |
| Axel Boldt, Alessandro Sigala, and countless other users all over the |
| 'net). |
| |
| Current Minimal Requirements |
| ============================ |
| |
| Upgrade to at *least* these software revisions before thinking you've |
| encountered a bug! If you're unsure what version you're currently |
| running, the suggested command should tell you. |
| |
| Again, keep in mind that this list assumes you are already |
| functionally running a Linux 2.4 kernel. Also, not all tools are |
| necessary on all systems; obviously, if you don't have any ISDN |
| hardware, for example, you probably needn't concern yourself with |
| isdn4k-utils. |
| |
| o Gnu C 3.2 # gcc --version |
| o Gnu make 3.79.1 # make --version |
| o binutils 2.12 # ld -v |
| o util-linux 2.10o # fdformat --version |
| o module-init-tools 0.9.10 # depmod -V |
| o e2fsprogs 1.41.4 # e2fsck -V |
| o jfsutils 1.1.3 # fsck.jfs -V |
| o reiserfsprogs 3.6.3 # reiserfsck -V 2>&1|grep reiserfsprogs |
| o xfsprogs 2.6.0 # xfs_db -V |
| o squashfs-tools 4.0 # mksquashfs -version |
| o btrfs-progs 0.18 # btrfsck |
| o pcmciautils 004 # pccardctl -V |
| o quota-tools 3.09 # quota -V |
| o PPP 2.4.0 # pppd --version |
| o isdn4k-utils 3.1pre1 # isdnctrl 2>&1|grep version |
| o nfs-utils 1.0.5 # showmount --version |
| o procps 3.2.0 # ps --version |
| o oprofile 0.9 # oprofiled --version |
| o udev 081 # udevinfo -V |
| o grub 0.93 # grub --version |
| o mcelog 0.6 |
| |
| Kernel compilation |
| ================== |
| |
| GCC |
| --- |
| |
| The gcc version requirements may vary depending on the type of CPU in your |
| computer. |
| |
| Make |
| ---- |
| |
| You will need Gnu make 3.79.1 or later to build the kernel. |
| |
| Binutils |
| -------- |
| |
| Linux on IA-32 has recently switched from using as86 to using gas for |
| assembling the 16-bit boot code, removing the need for as86 to compile |
| your kernel. This change does, however, mean that you need a recent |
| release of binutils. |
| |
| System utilities |
| ================ |
| |
| Architectural changes |
| --------------------- |
| |
| DevFS has been obsoleted in favour of udev |
| (http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/) |
| |
| 32-bit UID support is now in place. Have fun! |
| |
| Linux documentation for functions is transitioning to inline |
| documentation via specially-formatted comments near their |
| definitions in the source. These comments can be combined with the |
| SGML templates in the Documentation/DocBook directory to make DocBook |
| files, which can then be converted by DocBook stylesheets to PostScript, |
| HTML, PDF files, and several other formats. In order to convert from |
| DocBook format to a format of your choice, you'll need to install Jade as |
| well as the desired DocBook stylesheets. |
| |
| Util-linux |
| ---------- |
| |
| New versions of util-linux provide *fdisk support for larger disks, |
| support new options to mount, recognize more supported partition |
| types, have a fdformat which works with 2.4 kernels, and similar goodies. |
| You'll probably want to upgrade. |
| |
| Ksymoops |
| -------- |
| |
| If the unthinkable happens and your kernel oopses, you may need the |
| ksymoops tool to decode it, but in most cases you don't. |
| In the 2.6 kernel it is generally preferred to build the kernel with |
| CONFIG_KALLSYMS so that it produces readable dumps that can be used as-is |
| (this also produces better output than ksymoops). |
| If for some reason your kernel is not build with CONFIG_KALLSYMS and |
| you have no way to rebuild and reproduce the Oops with that option, then |
| you can still decode that Oops with ksymoops. |
| |
| Module-Init-Tools |
| ----------------- |
| |
| A new module loader is now in the kernel that requires module-init-tools |
| to use. It is backward compatible with the 2.4.x series kernels. |
| |
| Mkinitrd |
| -------- |
| |
| These changes to the /lib/modules file tree layout also require that |
| mkinitrd be upgraded. |
| |
| E2fsprogs |
| --------- |
| |
| The latest version of e2fsprogs fixes several bugs in fsck and |
| debugfs. Obviously, it's a good idea to upgrade. |
| |
| JFSutils |
| -------- |
| |
| The jfsutils package contains the utilities for the file system. |
| The following utilities are available: |
| o fsck.jfs - initiate replay of the transaction log, and check |
| and repair a JFS formatted partition. |
| o mkfs.jfs - create a JFS formatted partition. |
| o other file system utilities are also available in this package. |
| |
| Reiserfsprogs |
| ------------- |
| |
| The reiserfsprogs package should be used for reiserfs-3.6.x |
| (Linux kernels 2.4.x). It is a combined package and contains working |
| versions of mkreiserfs, resize_reiserfs, debugreiserfs and |
| reiserfsck. These utils work on both i386 and alpha platforms. |
| |
| Xfsprogs |
| -------- |
| |
| The latest version of xfsprogs contains mkfs.xfs, xfs_db, and the |
| xfs_repair utilities, among others, for the XFS filesystem. It is |
| architecture independent and any version from 2.0.0 onward should |
| work correctly with this version of the XFS kernel code (2.6.0 or |
| later is recommended, due to some significant improvements). |
| |
| PCMCIAutils |
| ----------- |
| |
| PCMCIAutils replaces pcmcia-cs (see below). It properly sets up |
| PCMCIA sockets at system startup and loads the appropriate modules |
| for 16-bit PCMCIA devices if the kernel is modularized and the hotplug |
| subsystem is used. |
| |
| Pcmcia-cs |
| --------- |
| |
| PCMCIA (PC Card) support is now partially implemented in the main |
| kernel source. The "pcmciautils" package (see above) replaces pcmcia-cs |
| for newest kernels. |
| |
| Quota-tools |
| ----------- |
| |
| Support for 32 bit uid's and gid's is required if you want to use |
| the newer version 2 quota format. Quota-tools version 3.07 and |
| newer has this support. Use the recommended version or newer |
| from the table above. |
| |
| Intel IA32 microcode |
| -------------------- |
| |
| A driver has been added to allow updating of Intel IA32 microcode, |
| accessible as a normal (misc) character device. If you are not using |
| udev you may need to: |
| |
| mkdir /dev/cpu |
| mknod /dev/cpu/microcode c 10 184 |
| chmod 0644 /dev/cpu/microcode |
| |
| as root before you can use this. You'll probably also want to |
| get the user-space microcode_ctl utility to use with this. |
| |
| Powertweak |
| ---------- |
| |
| If you are running v0.1.17 or earlier, you should upgrade to |
| version v0.99.0 or higher. Running old versions may cause problems |
| with programs using shared memory. |
| |
| udev |
| ---- |
| udev is a userspace application for populating /dev dynamically with |
| only entries for devices actually present. udev replaces the basic |
| functionality of devfs, while allowing persistent device naming for |
| devices. |
| |
| FUSE |
| ---- |
| |
| Needs libfuse 2.4.0 or later. Absolute minimum is 2.3.0 but mount |
| options 'direct_io' and 'kernel_cache' won't work. |
| |
| Networking |
| ========== |
| |
| General changes |
| --------------- |
| |
| If you have advanced network configuration needs, you should probably |
| consider using the network tools from ip-route2. |
| |
| Packet Filter / NAT |
| ------------------- |
| The packet filtering and NAT code uses the same tools like the previous 2.4.x |
| kernel series (iptables). It still includes backwards-compatibility modules |
| for 2.2.x-style ipchains and 2.0.x-style ipfwadm. |
| |
| PPP |
| --- |
| |
| The PPP driver has been restructured to support multilink and to |
| enable it to operate over diverse media layers. If you use PPP, |
| upgrade pppd to at least 2.4.0. |
| |
| If you are not using udev, you must have the device file /dev/ppp |
| which can be made by: |
| |
| mknod /dev/ppp c 108 0 |
| |
| as root. |
| |
| Isdn4k-utils |
| ------------ |
| |
| Due to changes in the length of the phone number field, isdn4k-utils |
| needs to be recompiled or (preferably) upgraded. |
| |
| NFS-utils |
| --------- |
| |
| In 2.4 and earlier kernels, the nfs server needed to know about any |
| client that expected to be able to access files via NFS. This |
| information would be given to the kernel by "mountd" when the client |
| mounted the filesystem, or by "exportfs" at system startup. exportfs |
| would take information about active clients from /var/lib/nfs/rmtab. |
| |
| This approach is quite fragile as it depends on rmtab being correct |
| which is not always easy, particularly when trying to implement |
| fail-over. Even when the system is working well, rmtab suffers from |
| getting lots of old entries that never get removed. |
| |
| With 2.6 we have the option of having the kernel tell mountd when it |
| gets a request from an unknown host, and mountd can give appropriate |
| export information to the kernel. This removes the dependency on |
| rmtab and means that the kernel only needs to know about currently |
| active clients. |
| |
| To enable this new functionality, you need to: |
| |
| mount -t nfsd nfsd /proc/fs/nfsd |
| |
| before running exportfs or mountd. It is recommended that all NFS |
| services be protected from the internet-at-large by a firewall where |
| that is possible. |
| |
| mcelog |
| ------ |
| |
| In Linux 2.6.31+ the i386 kernel needs to run the mcelog utility |
| as a regular cronjob similar to the x86-64 kernel to process and log |
| machine check events when CONFIG_X86_NEW_MCE is enabled. Machine check |
| events are errors reported by the CPU. Processing them is strongly encouraged. |
| All x86-64 kernels since 2.6.4 require the mcelog utility to |
| process machine checks. |
| |
| Getting updated software |
| ======================== |
| |
| Kernel compilation |
| ****************** |
| |
| gcc |
| --- |
| o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/> |
| |
| Make |
| ---- |
| o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/> |
| |
| Binutils |
| -------- |
| o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/devel/binutils/> |
| |
| System utilities |
| **************** |
| |
| Util-linux |
| ---------- |
| o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/> |
| |
| Ksymoops |
| -------- |
| o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/v2.4/> |
| |
| Module-Init-Tools |
| ----------------- |
| o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/rusty/modules/> |
| |
| Mkinitrd |
| -------- |
| o <ftp://rawhide.redhat.com/pub/rawhide/SRPMS/SRPMS/> |
| |
| E2fsprogs |
| --------- |
| o <http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/e2fsprogs/e2fsprogs-1.29.tar.gz> |
| |
| JFSutils |
| -------- |
| o <http://jfs.sourceforge.net/> |
| |
| Reiserfsprogs |
| ------------- |
| o <http://www.namesys.com/pub/reiserfsprogs/reiserfsprogs-3.6.3.tar.gz> |
| |
| Xfsprogs |
| -------- |
| o <ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/download/> |
| |
| Pcmciautils |
| ----------- |
| o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/> |
| |
| Pcmcia-cs |
| --------- |
| o <http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/> |
| |
| Quota-tools |
| ---------- |
| o <http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxquota/> |
| |
| DocBook Stylesheets |
| ------------------- |
| o <http://nwalsh.com/docbook/dsssl/> |
| |
| XMLTO XSLT Frontend |
| ------------------- |
| o <http://cyberelk.net/tim/xmlto/> |
| |
| Intel P6 microcode |
| ------------------ |
| o <http://www.urbanmyth.org/microcode/> |
| |
| Powertweak |
| ---------- |
| o <http://powertweak.sourceforge.net/> |
| |
| udev |
| ---- |
| o <http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev.html> |
| |
| FUSE |
| ---- |
| o <http://sourceforge.net/projects/fuse> |
| |
| mcelog |
| ------ |
| o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/cpu/mce/mcelog/> |
| |
| Networking |
| ********** |
| |
| PPP |
| --- |
| o <ftp://ftp.samba.org/pub/ppp/ppp-2.4.0.tar.gz> |
| |
| Isdn4k-utils |
| ------------ |
| o <ftp://ftp.isdn4linux.de/pub/isdn4linux/utils/isdn4k-utils.v3.1pre1.tar.gz> |
| |
| NFS-utils |
| --------- |
| o <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=14> |
| |
| Iptables |
| -------- |
| o <http://www.iptables.org/downloads.html> |
| |
| Ip-route2 |
| --------- |
| o <ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/net/ip-routing/iproute2-2.2.4-now-ss991023.tar.gz> |
| |
| OProfile |
| -------- |
| o <http://oprofile.sf.net/download/> |
| |
| NFS-Utils |
| --------- |
| o <http://nfs.sourceforge.net/> |
| |