make oldconfig: "warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol"

violagirl23 · 2008-01-31 02:55:55

I've had Arch for about a day now and couldn't take not being able to fiddle with the kernel (it's practically a tradition with me to make my system unbootable at least once a week (I fiddle too much)), so I downloaded the sources into a regular user's home directory. I pretty much followed the instructions from here: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ker … rom_Source
I downloaded the same kernel as I am using as well.
However, if I copy over the Arch config file with zcat /proc/config.gz > .config, when I run make oldconfig it sort of spits up at me.
This is the exact error message:

 make oldconfig
  HOSTCC  scripts/basic/fixdep
  HOSTCC  scripts/basic/docproc
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/conf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/kxgettext.o
  SHIPPED scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c
  SHIPPED scripts/kconfig/lex.zconf.c
  SHIPPED scripts/kconfig/zconf.hash.c
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.o
  HOSTLD  scripts/kconfig/conf
scripts/kconfig/conf -o arch/i386/Kconfig
.config:46:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol FAIR_GROUP_SCHED
.config:120:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SCHED_NO_NO_OMIT_FRAME_POINTER
.config:269:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol ACPI_CUSTOM_DSDT_INITRD
.config:2629:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_SC6000
.config:2695:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_HWDEP
.config:2696:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_CODEC_REALTEK
.config:2697:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_CODEC_ANALOG
.config:2698:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_CODEC_SIGMATEL
.config:2699:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_CODEC_VIA
.config:2700:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_CODEC_ATIHDMI
.config:2701:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_CODEC_CONEXANT
.config:2702:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_CODEC_CMEDIA
.config:2703:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_CODEC_SI3054
.config:2704:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_GENERIC
.config:2705:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_POWER_SAVE
.config:2706:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_HDA_POWER_SAVE_DEFAULT
.config:2732:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_AC97_POWER_SAVE_DEFAULT
.config:3202:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol UNION_FS
.config:3203:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol UNION_FS_XATTR
.config:3204:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol UNION_FS_DEBUG
.config:3227:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SQUASHFS
.config:3228:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SQUASHFS_EMBEDDED
.config:3229:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SQUASHFS_FRAGMENT_CACHE_SIZE
*
* Linux Kernel Configuration
*
*
* General setup
*
Prompt for development and/or incomplete code/drivers (EXPERIMENTAL) [Y/n/?] y
Local version - append to kernel release (LOCALVERSION) [-ARCH] -ARCH
Automatically append version information to the version string (LOCALVERSION_AUTO) [Y/n/?] y
Support for paging of anonymous memory (swap) (SWAP) [Y/n/?] y
System V IPC (SYSVIPC) [Y/n/?] y
POSIX Message Queues (POSIX_MQUEUE) [Y/n/?] y
BSD Process Accounting (BSD_PROCESS_ACCT) [N/y/?] n
Export task/process statistics through netlink (EXPERIMENTAL) (TASKSTATS) [N/y/?] n
User Namespaces (EXPERIMENTAL) (USER_NS) [Y/n/?] y
Auditing support (AUDIT) [N/y/?] n
Kernel .config support (IKCONFIG) [Y/n/m/?] y
  Enable access to .config through /proc/config.gz (IKCONFIG_PROC) [Y/n/?] y
Kernel log buffer size (16 => 64KB, 17 => 128KB) (LOG_BUF_SHIFT) [15] 15
Cpuset support (CPUSETS) [N/y/?] (NEW)

Now, I personally have no idea why this is happening, but would it perhaps happen to do with Arch having patches in the kernel and then the actual official kernel source not knowing what to do about it?
I googled these sort of errors and got back just things like people mixing 2.4 and 2.6 sources, etc.
And if Arch's patches ARE the problem, is there any easy remedy to this? I would have preferred to start from the base that Arch gave me rather than simply start from scratch, and then I could just fiddle away.
I suppose I could always try copying over the Gentoo config file, but I'd prefer to keep Arch in Arch. XD
-Megan-
PS: The make oldconfig DID complete, I just wasn't sure if the errors in the beginning would cause any major problems or not is all.

Last edited by violagirl23 (2008-01-31 02:57:31)

Leigh · 2008-02-02 10:27:40

Each time the vanilla kernel is updated, depending on the update, I normally recompile my custom kernel which I based off the vanilla kernel. With me it's a lot of trial and error, and more times than not my custom kernel will freak out on me, but it's fun experimenting! Although those errors look a little familiar, hopfully someone much smarter than me will reply since I can't really give you a solution to your problem. But , I always keep a vanilla kernel installed next to my custom kernel so when I totally hose my custom kernel, I can still boot the vanilla one

patroclo7 · 2008-02-02 12:01:44

There is no error there, just harmless warnings: the kernel you are trying to compile does not have some options in the config you are trying to use; the only consequence of this is that those options are not used. If you revise your configuration with make menuconfig & friends also the warnings will go away.
Seeing the specific options, I think that they concern the snd_hda_intel audio driver, which has been modularized fro the support of different codecs in the transition from 2.6.23 to 2.6.24: so I guess you are trying to compile a 2.6.23 kernel with a config for a 2.6.24 (or for a 2.6.23 where alsa has been patched, as often happens with arch default kernel). Anyway, I think that you should ignore those warnings and go on to configure your custom kernel according to your needs (I guess that you need to start from the arch default config only the first time; after that you will always start from you own, customized configuration).

Last edited by patroclo7 (2008-02-02 12:03:03)

broch · 2008-02-07 00:03:22

these warning will appear when you will use config from a kernel that had specific options and your new kernel does not have them (either obsolete or replaced by another module or option changed place in the config hierarchy.

based on your output, new kernel does not have
SQUASHFS
UNION_FS
and bunch of sound cards

SQUASHFS
UNION_FS
are not in default 2.6.24 but are in e.g. 2.6.24-zen
also sound card hierarchy suggests that config is from 2.6.24 (patched)

SQUASHFS
UNION_FS
may not be a big deal,

while, unless you re-check your sound card, your kernel will not support sound at all. so double-check if correct sound card is checked.

otherwise there warnings will not affect kermel stability.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-01-31 02:55:55

make oldconfig: "warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol"

#2 2008-02-02 10:27:40

Re: make oldconfig: "warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol"

#3 2008-02-02 12:01:44

Re: make oldconfig: "warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol"

#4 2008-02-07 00:03:22

Re: make oldconfig: "warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol"

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