[SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

vgivanovic · 2011-02-19 00:19:05

Last night, the kernel26 package on my system was upgraded by a cron job running 'pacman -Syu':

[2011-02-18 02:14] upgraded kernel26 (2.6.37-5 -> 2.6.37-6)
[2011-02-18 02:14] upgraded kernel26-docs (2.6.37-5 -> 2.6.37-6)
[2011-02-18 02:14] upgraded kernel26-headers (2.6.37-5 -> 2.6.37-6)

This afternoon I could only boot into a very broken system. I tracked the problem down to all modules being compressed (*.ko.gz instead of *.ko). Uncompressing all the modules in /lib/modules/2.6.37-ARCH has restored sanity to my world.

Needless to say, 'pacman -Qk kernel26' complains bitterly about missing .ko.gz files.

Could someone explain to me what happened? I don't think I did anything system-like recently; perhaps there's something I should have done but haven't.

Although I'm up and running just fine, I have a lingering suspicion that all is not well.

Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks.

--- Vladimir

Last edited by vgivanovic (2011-02-19 23:30:07)

graysky · 2011-02-19 01:00:05

Yeah, the arch packages now use gzip compressed modules. Have been doing so for weeks now. Dunno what your problem is... is the system up-to-date and is the mirror you're using up-to-date?

vgivanovic · 2011-02-19 04:33:02

graysky wrote:

Yeah, the arch packages now use gzip compressed modules. Have been doing so for weeks now. Dunno what your problem is... is the system up-to-date and is the mirror you're using up-to-date?

Yes, my system is up-to-date. I am never more than a day out of date. Pacman's config points to /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist (owned by the package pacman-mirrorlist-20101223-1t) and it contains

Server = http://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://schlunix.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirrors.cat.pdx.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirrors.xmission.com/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch
Server = http://mirrors.hosef.org/archlinux/$repo/os/$arch

I'm having to reboot once about every one to three days (system freezes), so if I've been using compressed modules for "several weeks", they haven't caused a problem so far.

I had a successful reboot before installing the following packages

[2011-02-17 00:15] upgraded racket (5.0.2-2 -> 5.1-1)
[2011-02-17 03:14] upgraded dokuwiki (20101107-1 -> 20101107a-1)
[2011-02-17 03:14] upgraded libvirt (0.8.7-3 -> 0.8.8-1)
[2011-02-17 05:14] upgraded glibc (2.13-1 -> 2.13-3)
[2011-02-17 05:14] upgraded binutils (2.21-3 -> 2.21-4)
[2011-02-17 08:14] upgraded libdrm (2.4.23-1 -> 2.4.23-2)
[2011-02-17 09:54] installed eclipse (3.6.1-1)
[2011-02-17 09:54] installed eclipse-cdt (7.0.1-1)
[2011-02-17 09:54] installed eclipse-phpeclipse (1.2.3-1)
[2011-02-17 09:54] installed eclipse-subclipse (1.6.15-1)
[2011-02-17 09:59] installed bzr-xmloutput (0.8.6-2)
[2011-02-17 09:59] installed cmakebuilder (1.2.0-1)
[2011-02-17 10:16] installed eclipse-emf (2.6.0-1)
[2011-02-17 10:16] installed eclipse-gef (3.6.1-1)
[2011-02-17 10:16] installed doxygen (1.7.3-2)
[2011-02-17 12:14] upgraded vi (050325-3 -> 050325-4)
[2011-02-17 16:14] upgraded ntp (4.2.6.p2-1 -> 4.2.6.p3-1)
[2011-02-17 17:21] installed eclipse-platform (3.6.1-1)
[2011-02-18 02:14] upgraded kernel26 (2.6.37-5 -> 2.6.37-6)
[2011-02-18 02:14] upgraded kernel26-docs (2.6.37-5 -> 2.6.37-6)
[2011-02-18 02:14] upgraded kernel26-headers (2.6.37-5 -> 2.6.37-6)
[2011-02-18 03:14] upgraded mutt (1.5.21-1 -> 1.5.21-2)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded libgl (7.10.0.git20110206-2 -> 7.10.0.git20110215-1)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded ati-dri (7.10.0.git20110206-2 -> 7.10.0.git20110215-1)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded intel-dri (7.10.0.git20110206-2 -> 7.10.0.git20110215-1)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded mach64-dri (7.10.0.git20110206-2 -> 7.10.0.git20110215-1)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded mesa (7.10.0.git20110206-2 -> 7.10.0.git20110215-1)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded mga-dri (7.10.0.git20110206-2 -> 7.10.0.git20110215-1)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded openjdk6 (6.b20_1.9.6-1 -> 6.b20_1.9.7-1)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded r128-dri (7.10.0.git20110206-2 -> 7.10.0.git20110215-1)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded savage-dri (7.10.0.git20110206-2 -> 7.10.0.git20110215-1)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded sis-dri (7.10.0.git20110206-2 -> 7.10.0.git20110215-1)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded tdfx-dri (7.10.0.git20110206-2 -> 7.10.0.git20110215-1)
[2011-02-18 09:14] upgraded xf86-video-intel (2.14.0-1 -> 2.14.0-2)
[2011-02-18 11:15] upgraded vi (050325-4 -> 050325-3)
[2011-02-18 11:15] upgraded vi (050325-3 -> 050325-4)

and then an unsuccessful reboot after.

--- Vladimir

.:B:. · 2011-02-19 09:04:42

Lots of distributions compress their kernel modules, and as you might guess from the scarcity of topics concerning the transition on Arch, it works for an overwhelming majority of people.

I think the problem lies elsewhere - you need module-init-tools to support gzipped modules as well, for example. There are a few things required to support a kernel with gzipped modules.

Your problem is probably a failed depmod, rather than the gzipped modules themselves. You're not running on RAID either, for example?

From the look of your package list btw, you're installing a *lot* of redundant stuff.

tomk · 2011-02-19 09:54:37

As mentioned, the relevant dependency here is module-init-tools - make sure you have the 3.12-2 package. Assuming you do, you need to look elsewhere for the cause of your problems.

How exactly did you track your issues down to module compression anyway?

And as nobody else has pointed it out yet, cron'ing your pacman updates is not recommended (probably won't stop you doing it, I know).

graysky · 2011-02-19 11:52:08

Lots of good suggestion given by others here. If you want to prove that the gzipped modules are NOT your problem, an easy experiment is for you to use abs to build your own kernel26 package. Before you build it, simply comment out this line in the PKGBUILD:

find "$pkgdir" -name '*.ko' -exec gzip -9 {} \;

Last edited by graysky (2011-02-19 11:52:48)

wonder · 2011-02-19 12:43:33

be sure you don't have both zipped and unzipped modules. that would cause problems.

only have the gzip ones.

vgivanovic · 2011-02-19 20:55:18

Lots of distributions compress their kernel modules, and as you might guess from the scarcity of topics concerning the transition on Arch, it works for an overwhelming majority of people.
I think the problem lies elsewhere - you need module-init-tools to support gzipped modules as well, for example. There are a few things required to support a kernel with gzipped modules.

module-init-tools-3.12-2 was installed on 08 Jan 2011, so I too was running with compressed modules successfully ... until yesterday.

Your problem is probably a failed depmod, rather than the gzipped modules themselves. You're not running on RAID either, for example?

I'm not running on RAID. I just ran 'depmod -a' using the uncompressed modules without error. I then switched to the compressed modules and re-ran 'depmod -a', again without error. I removed the module k8temp and then installed it, also without error, so I'm going to try a reboot. If that succeeds, your theory most likely is correct.

From the look of your package list btw, you're installing a *lot* of redundant stuff.

Yes, I know. Eventually I'll get around to choosing one program over another. In the meantime, unless the redundancies cause a problem other than using up disk space, I'm inclined to keep them. Please let me know if you can see problems...

vgivanovic · 2011-02-19 21:05:12

Your problem is probably a failed depmod,...

Bingo! I rebooted successfully using the compressed modules (after running 'depmod -a') and peace has returned to the land. Thanks.

vgivanovic · 2011-02-19 21:55:57

tomk wrote:

As mentioned, the relevant dependency here is module-init-tools - make sure you have the 3.12-2 package. Assuming you do, you need to look elsewhere for the cause of your problems.

You're right. It appears to be a failed 'depmod' during an install.

tomk wrote:

How exactly did you track your issues down to module compression anyway?

I couldn't load modules (no ext2, for instance) at boot time, so my system was very broken. I forget the exact error, but it pointed me to compressed vs uncompressed modules. I booted successfully after having created an uncompressed module tree.

tomk wrote:

And as nobody else has pointed it out yet, cron'ing your pacman updates is not recommended (probably won't stop you doing it, I know).

Could you (briefly) tell me why?

BTW, thanks to everyone who responded.

P.S. Is there a way of changing the subject line to include "[SOLVED]"?

anonymous_user · 2011-02-19 23:02:25

vgivanovic wrote:

Could you (briefly) tell me why?

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=83118

vgivanovic wrote:

P.S. Is there a way of changing the subject line to include "[SOLVED]"?

Edit your first post.

vgivanovic · 2011-02-19 23:32:47

anonymous_user wrote:

vgivanovic wrote:
Could you (briefly) tell me why?
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=83118
vgivanovic wrote:
P.S. Is there a way of changing the subject line to include "[SOLVED]"?
Edit your first post.

OK. Thanks.

vgivanovic · 2011-02-19 23:50:48

anonymous_user wrote:

vgivanovic wrote:
Could you (briefly) tell me why?
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=83118

It occurred to me that my problem with compressed modules is an existence proof that cronning pacman updates is a bad idea.

ould · 2011-04-21 00:45:50

Thanks for the replies in this thread. I just had the exact same symptoms as the OP. I hadn't updated for about 2 months as the system had been running beautifully but decided it was time for an update anyways. Obviously a crap load of packages were updated and I ended up with a fully broken system. My first thought was a botched kernel update so I recompiled the kernel using a live disk but same symptoms and that lead me to this thread. A simple depmod -a and I was back in action so thanks guys!!

Kevin

Arch Linux

#1 2011-02-19 00:19:05

[SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#2 2011-02-19 01:00:05

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#3 2011-02-19 04:33:02

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#4 2011-02-19 09:04:42

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#5 2011-02-19 09:54:37

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#6 2011-02-19 11:52:08

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#7 2011-02-19 12:43:33

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#8 2011-02-19 20:55:18

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#9 2011-02-19 21:05:12

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#10 2011-02-19 21:55:57

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#11 2011-02-19 23:02:25

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#12 2011-02-19 23:32:47

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#13 2011-02-19 23:50:48

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

#14 2011-04-21 00:45:50

Re: [SOLVED] Compressed kernel modules?

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