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#1 2006-04-03 12:20:58

occam
Member
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2005-01-16
Posts: 82

Making custom vanilla kernels

I prefer vanilla kernels over patched versions - just a personal foible.
Also, I have several Linux versions in a multiboot system - so I can check out any interesting news but still have a stable 'work' system available.
I went to my current kernel (2.6.15.1) directory, copied over kconfig26 and did 'make xconfig',  This quickly caused error in scripts/basic/fixdep - permission not good.  So I tried it as root - still not good enough permissions!

Rebooted the machine, tried the same make xconfig (in the same directory) using another distribution - and now it worked!

What in Arch causes this strange error?  Can I avoid it?  Or must I use ABS and makepkg?


Moduli non sunt multiplicandi praeter necessitatem

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#2 2006-04-04 13:19:17

patroclo7
Member
From: Bassano del Grappa, ITALY
Registered: 2006-01-11
Posts: 915

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

What do you mean with "current kernel directory"?
I think that you can not use the /usr/src/linux-<foo> directory created installing the arch default kernel (it does not include a complete kernel source, only what is needed in order to install external modules and so).

If you want to compile your own kernel without abs, you have to untar the kernel source in a new directory in /usr/src... cd to that directory, give a

 zcat /proc/config.gz > .config
make oldconfig
make menuconfig
make
make modules_install
cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz26arch 

Mortuus in anima, curam gero cutis

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#3 2006-04-04 21:41:31

occam
Member
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2005-01-16
Posts: 82

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

With 'current kernel directory' I meant the folder where I have untarred the current (for me) kernel.
Otherwise, what you describe is what I have done; but I do not use /usr/src at all but a separate partition holding software and one folder there dedicated to kernels (I use a separate partition so software can easily and safely be shared between distributions or versions).
The fstab entries are identical in all systems; that is why I am confused by the refusal of Arch to permit "make xconfig" and "make menuconfig", even for root!


Moduli non sunt multiplicandi praeter necessitatem

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#4 2006-04-05 12:12:02

gwine
Member
From: Finland
Registered: 2006-03-20
Posts: 14

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

patroclo7

I'm little bit uncertain - is initrd26.img needed? I'm old Slack-user and there was no initram-disk  lol  I have compiled kernel now with abs but I think it's little bit easier to compile in that way you mentioned.

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#5 2006-04-05 18:11:03

patroclo7
Member
From: Bassano del Grappa, ITALY
Registered: 2006-01-11
Posts: 915

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

Provided you compile the kernel with the needed things inside the kernel and not as modules (the stuff required for the root filesystem, your disk and something else), no initrd is required: the initrd is required for the default arch kernel, with lots of modules.
If you derived your config file from your slack, you should not need any initrd.


Mortuus in anima, curam gero cutis

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#6 2006-04-05 18:13:35

patroclo7
Member
From: Bassano del Grappa, ITALY
Registered: 2006-01-11
Posts: 915

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

To occam: if the configuration succeeds on the same partition in another distribution, the problem could concern the permissions you have on that partition: so you should compare the relevant lines in /etc/fstab in your two distributions.


Mortuus in anima, curam gero cutis

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#7 2006-04-06 05:42:19

gwine
Member
From: Finland
Registered: 2006-03-20
Posts: 14

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

Thanks a lot  big_smile

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#8 2006-04-06 06:29:05

occam
Member
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2005-01-16
Posts: 82

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

To patrocio7:  yes, there was a difference in the fstab s.
In Arch I had "noauto,user,rw" and in the other "defaults".
A change to "defaults" was all that was needed.

However, I did an pacman -Suy without excluding kernel26, and now several /usr/lib modules pertaining to nvidia and GL are "empty", and I cannot start X.  Doing pacman -S nvidia in run mode 3 did not help. Oh well, I will wait a few weeks and then reload Arch and see if I can get it to work. (I know that there are kernel patches for nvidia but at the moment there is too much else to do..)


Moduli non sunt multiplicandi praeter necessitatem

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#9 2006-04-06 08:39:20

patroclo7
Member
From: Bassano del Grappa, ITALY
Registered: 2006-01-11
Posts: 915

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

For the next time, if you want to compile your own kernel without abs, you can not only put:

IgnorePkg = kernel26 

in /etc/pacman.conf, but also give a different name to your own kernel. Let us say

cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel26occam 

and then adapt you grub (or lilo) configuration. In this second way, you can also install both your own kernel and the default arch one (so, you can change kernel on the fly at boot time if something goes wrong with the other one).

Moreover, kernel26occam is a perfect name for a clean, essential kernel: it can be properly called "occamistic", since it obeys a modified version of a well-known dictum by William of Ockham:
Moduli non sunt multiplicandi praeter necessitatem


Mortuus in anima, curam gero cutis

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#10 2006-04-06 09:43:54

occam
Member
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2005-01-16
Posts: 82

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

"Moduli non sunt multiplicandi praeter necessitatem"
I like that motto-variant! It will be my signature from now on.


Moduli non sunt multiplicandi praeter necessitatem

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#11 2006-04-08 23:48:50

occam
Member
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2005-01-16
Posts: 82

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

I have found that 'strange' problems are sometimes caused by having 'current' and 'extra' repos out of synch.  So, I now apply a standard solution: change pacman preferences to use the 'root' repos, and then pacman -Syu.  Works for me..

It can happen that there are glitches in the packages, so I first check the forums to see if others have same/similar problems.  In such cases I wait a few days, and by then the maintainers usually have resolved the problems,


Moduli non sunt multiplicandi praeter necessitatem

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#12 2006-04-09 08:09:21

patroclo7
Member
From: Bassano del Grappa, ITALY
Registered: 2006-01-11
Posts: 915

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

Which problem do you mean? That with "/etc/fstab"?


Mortuus in anima, curam gero cutis

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#13 2006-04-09 22:44:45

occam
Member
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2005-01-16
Posts: 82

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

No - I mean problems like X stops working after a system upgrade.


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#14 2006-04-09 23:00:23

patroclo7
Member
From: Bassano del Grappa, ITALY
Registered: 2006-01-11
Posts: 915

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

Yeah, sorry, then I agree. However, may be there is a danger: if every user syncs directly with the main server, this server (in spite of being brand new, I guess) will suffer a bit.


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#15 2006-04-10 00:14:32

occam
Member
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2005-01-16
Posts: 82

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

Yes I realise that.  So that is done ONLY if a) there is a problem AND b) my 'local' (Australian) server is not updated by the time I need the Arch system.


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#16 2006-04-10 06:24:23

iphitus
Forum Fellow
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2004-10-09
Posts: 4,927

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

occam wrote:

Yes I realise that.  So that is done ONLY if a) there is a problem AND b) my 'local' (Australian) server is not updated by the time I need the Arch system.

I ditched the australian server's. Try and find another mirror. I use archlinux.org because I prefer to be right up to date, it gives reasonable speeds ~100KB/s so it's not too bad. Most of them are terribly out of date at best. I've put in requests to planet mirror and mirror.pacific.net.au and neither have put a mirror up.

James

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#17 2006-04-10 22:51:39

Snowman
Developer/Forum Fellow
From: Montreal, Canada
Registered: 2004-08-20
Posts: 5,212

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

iphitus wrote:
occam wrote:

Yes I realise that.  So that is done ONLY if a) there is a problem AND b) my 'local' (Australian) server is not updated by the time I need the Arch system.

I ditched the australian server's. Try and find another mirror. I use archlinux.org because I prefer to be right up to date, it gives reasonable speeds ~100KB/s so it's not too bad. Most of them are terribly out of date at best.

Try the ftp.nethat.com mirror. I get speed of ~300kb/s and it has the packages one day after they appear on archlinux.org.

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#18 2006-04-11 10:23:29

iphitus
Forum Fellow
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2004-10-09
Posts: 4,927

Re: Making custom vanilla kernels

Snowman wrote:
iphitus wrote:
occam wrote:

Yes I realise that.  So that is done ONLY if a) there is a problem AND b) my 'local' (Australian) server is not updated by the time I need the Arch system.

I ditched the australian server's. Try and find another mirror. I use archlinux.org because I prefer to be right up to date, it gives reasonable speeds ~100KB/s so it's not too bad. Most of them are terribly out of date at best.

Try the ftp.nethat.com mirror. I get speed of ~300kb/s and it has the packages one day after they appear on archlinux.org.

That's 300kbps in Canada. I'm in Australia.. and most of the time I get appalling speeds from the americas. Besides, I'm a dev, so I'm happy to pretend its important for me to be up to date tongue

James

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