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#1 2008-09-08 14:55:44

windexh8er
Member
Registered: 2008-05-04
Posts: 32

Arch Kernel Question

So...  I guess I'm not a Linux 'newb' per-se, but I have a Arch newbish question.  I've been a Gentoo guy for quite a while and like the system.  However I have a couple new Arch boxes now that are just less headache to manage.  My question is that I'm in the early stages of building a LiveCD / LiveUSB for personal use and I'm trying to decide what distro to use.  The reason I'm leaning towards Arch is the larch stuff that is available.

Long story short, my question is -- within Arch are kernel upgrades just part of a system update (I believe they are from what I've seen) or is there a facility, like within Gentoo, to hold back a particular kernel?

My next question is somewhat similar -- if I'd like to run a vanilla kernel and maintain it myself how does that affect system updates?

The problem I see is that I need a lot of customization in the kernel, and I need it not to be bleeding edge.  A lot of this has to do with the tools stability so I want to be sticking pretty hard to a kernel once it's implemented and I don't want it to be just magically updated.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Kind regards,
--windexh8er

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#2 2008-09-08 15:00:37

skottish
Forum Fellow
From: Here
Registered: 2006-06-16
Posts: 7,942

Re: Arch Kernel Question

Welcome to the forums windexh8er.

The Arch kernel is part of the regular upgrades, as well as all modules that depend on it. It's nearly a vanilla kernel already, but if you wanted to use your own, you can stop pacman from upgrading any package that you like (see IgnorePkg). If your kernel is fairly vanilla, you shouldn't have any problems with module upgrades. You'll just need to make sure that you time upgrades correctly. When the time comes, you'll hear about it; Lots of Arch user use testing, so most problems will be worked out early.

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#3 2008-09-08 15:18:59

windexh8er
Member
Registered: 2008-05-04
Posts: 32

Re: Arch Kernel Question

Cool, thanks!  Is there any way that those modules are tied as dependencies to the kernel through the IgnorePkg?  Wherein if I am ignoring kernel updates it will also ignore any modules that are in the package system?

Thanks for the quick reply and welcome.  smile
--windexh8er

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#4 2008-09-08 15:23:21

skottish
Forum Fellow
From: Here
Registered: 2006-06-16
Posts: 7,942

Re: Arch Kernel Question

windexh8er wrote:

Cool, thanks!  Is there any way that those modules are tied as dependencies to the kernel through the IgnorePkg?  Wherein if I am ignoring kernel updates it will also ignore any modules that are in the package system?

Thanks for the quick reply and welcome.  smile
--windexh8er

You're going to have to explicitly block anything that you don't want to upgrade, including modules. Of course there will come a time (major kernel version bump) that stuff simply won't upgrade anymore. In that case, pacman will fail with errors.

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#5 2008-09-08 15:51:49

Onwards
Member
From: Pakistan
Registered: 2007-04-18
Posts: 108

Re: Arch Kernel Question

We don't have to put modules into Ignorepkg as kernel26, which is the Arch pkgname for the kernel, includes modules too...

Additionally one should also add kernel-headers into Ignorepkg, as they potentially could mess up ones system [in case of nvidia GFX h/w, requiring appropriate kernel-headers for compilation]. Kernel-headers & ones kernel-version should be the same anyway...

Last edited by Onwards (2008-09-08 19:05:52)

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#6 2008-09-08 18:05:38

quetzyg
Member
From: /home/quetzyg
Registered: 2006-08-03
Posts: 129

Re: Arch Kernel Question

Hello windexh8er!

Your situation looks very much like mine. I have some Arch boxes, where I custom compile the kernel.
On a first install, I start to download the latest kernel, then configure, compile and install it.
After testing that the new kernel can boot fine, I simply uninstall the kernel26 package from the system.

Having a kernel-headers package that it's not the same version as the kernel you have installed in your system, doesn't cause any problems.

Hope I helped.


ZzZz...

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#7 2009-07-29 19:13:10

Dave Cohen
Member
Registered: 2008-09-27
Posts: 126

Re: Arch Kernel Question

One post in this thread claims that kernel26 and kernel-headers should both be ignored.  Another post says its OK to upgrade kernel-headers without upgrading kernel26.

Can someone clear it up?  Is it OK to IgnorePkg kernel26, but allow pacman to upgrade kernel-headers?

Thanks.

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#8 2009-07-29 19:27:40

broch
Banned
From: L.A. California
Registered: 2006-11-13
Posts: 975

Re: Arch Kernel Question

this is linux: you can use packages or install from sources. Kernel installed from sources will not affect Arch. This is the best way to keep one stable customized kernel without worrying about update conflicts.

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