Kernel 2.6 in FC1 HOWTO

[mhelios]

Here is a good HOWTO on upgrading to the 2.6 series kernel in Fedora Core 1. Pleasing layout and to the point.

http://fullo.altervista.org/phpwiki/index.php?FedoraKernel2.6

[Ug]

I was just contemplating this exact moment, upgrading my kernel. :D

[micha]

This one is also excellent:
http://fedoranews.org/jorge/howto/howto01.shtml

[Ug]

I find the one mhelios mentioned to be better.

[widesteps]

I suspected these howtos to be a little light for them to be classed as 'does exactly what it says on the tin'

Having a crack at running 2.6 using the howtos has justified my concerns. I haven't delved into solving the problems too much because I haven't the time (I will have to wait for a more robust upgrade procedure)

The main issues with each howto...
in the first case, I had failures with my keyboard, mouse and Nvidia graphics card. Unfortunately if you have an NVIDIA card you can't get a graphical UI until you recompile the driver against the new kernel interface if you do that then it removes the old driver effectively making the switch between kernels at boot non-trivial i.e. more involved than just selecting a kernel from the grub list! That said I don't think the NVIDIA compiles well against the 2.6 kernel interface, cos it still failed and errored - but that is more to do with nvidias installer than 2.6 I guess. But it still stuffs us NVIDIA users.

In the second howto it didn't get past installation of the kernel cos apt-get said I needed a newer version of qt and qt-devel so I apt-got them but it wouldn't install cos the redhat-art package required the old version of qt so I looked and there was no newer version of redhat-art to use the newer version of qt so that put the kybosh on that howto! (just because, I suspect, this newer kernel ships with some graphical configuration programme that needs qt thereby cluttering the kernel package with more package dependencies more removed from the basic core purpose of the package - at this rate you will need a whole distro with up to date packages just to install a kernel!)



Cheers

[kongit]

hrrrm I installed from vanilla source with the ck patch. And I didn't have to update anything to get it to work right, just a little manual configuring that I would probably had to of done with the rpm....and 2.6.4-ck1 is much faster than just 2.6.4.

why would you need qt for the kernel?

[PeTzZz]

kongit: what is the ck1 meaning in 2.6.4-ck1?

I agree to widesteps.
Those tutorials should also include steps how to config the kernel with menuconfig (or with other tools), because the user can miss too add something important to the kernel. For example ntfs support is not added by default.

I have used both tutorials when I upgraded to 2.6.4 kernel and I am still upgrading, because some things are not working. Besides those I have also read some other tutorials and how-to s about upgrading kernel and noone were perfect. Every tutorial have some points missing.

[kongit]

kongit: what is the ck1 meaning in 2.6.4-ck1?

It is a patch that makes it run a little better for desktops. but it isn't as stable as without it. you can find it here: http://members.optusnet.com.au/ckolivas/kernel/

[mhelios]

I would like to make one note about rolling your own kernel from the vanilla sources. This is from a Red Hat kernel FAQ by Dave Jones, RH's kernel developer.

Q. Why doesn't Fedora just ship the stock kernel.org kernel ?

A. The patches we apply are justified for many reasons.
- Dropping back to a 'known good' version of a driver.
- Updating to a newer version of a driver to whats in mainline
that fixes known bugs but for whatever reason, hasn't made it in yet.
- Backports of fixes from 'pre/rc' release kernels.
- Various new features developed by Red Hat.
NPTL, Exec-Shield etc..
- Various often requested features
laptop-mode for eg.


Link:http://www.linux.org.uk/~davej/docs/fedora-kernel-faq.txt

[PeTzZz]

The kernel upgrading tutorials mentioned above are describing how to upgrade to 2.6 using already compiled kernel, but here is a very good tutorial that describes how to upgrade (to 2.6) from the source code:
http://www.digitalhermit.com/~kwan/kernel.html
:D

Another good site you should check:
http://kerneltrap.org/book/print/2217

[kongit]

Q. Why doesn't Fedora just ship the stock kernel.org kernel ?

A. The patches we apply are justified for many reasons.
- Dropping back to a 'known good' version of a driver.
- Updating to a newer version of a driver to whats in mainline
that fixes known bugs but for whatever reason, hasn't made it in yet.
- Backports of fixes from 'pre/rc' release kernels.
- Various new features developed by Red Hat.
NPTL, Exec-Shield etc..
- Various often requested features
laptop-mode for eg.

All true, and I did have to go out of my way to make some things work right, but I am used to doing it myself and really didn't feel like bothering with the rpm. but i can fend for myself with the kernel and have mine working perfectly. But I can't say the same for everyone so unless you have a decent knowledge or aren't afraid of a few kernel panics you should stick with the rpm kernels from red hat as they have been tested so they have very high chance of working on your computer.

[mhelios]

Well, having rolled my own and used the rpms, the best way to compile a custom kernel is to start with the kernel sources of the official RH kernels rather than the vanilla kernel. (IMHO)

Sure, it's fun to have full customisation of your kernels but in the end it's so much more practical (and quicker) to use the rpms already extensively tested and supported for Fedora.

However kongit, I admire your "hacker" (in the true sense of the word) attitude; one that I share as well. :) Besides, wouldn't life be dull without a kernel panic or two now and then. :p

[PeTzZz]

A little question: is there any already compiled 2.6.4 kernels (rpms files) which has ntfs support built in and includes the 2.6.4-ck1 patch? Or for any other 2.6 kernel?

That info would be great!

[Bana]

You could always try making one yourself :D I am not sure how you do it with the kernel though... probably just get the modules, kernel image and initrd files and roll them into one rpm.

[PeTzZz]

Never mind now! I am just now already using Fedora with kernel 2.6.4! Just great! I am just so happy! I have passed all problems now! Everything is working now. Oh, I cannot believe, so many nights have been passed with linux and the problems with kernel 2.6.4, and now everything is just fine.

Thank you everybody! I don't know what I would have done without you!

Things that I used:
- http://www.digitalhermit.com/~kwan/kernel.html
- http://members.optusnet.com.au/ckolivas/kernel/
- the sound part of this resource:
http://thomer.com/linux/migrate-to-2.6.html
- some knowledge to configure the kernel (I used menuconfig)

Actually it wouldn't have been so hard if I would have known how to do it right. But if I had updated kernel how it should have been done, then I would not have such knowledge that I have right now.

Thank you again! It seems that you don't get so much spam from me any more.
:D
I am going to have one beer now that I specially hold for that purpose.
:)

[kongit]

However kongit, I admire your "hacker" (in the true sense of the word) attitude; one that I share as well. Besides, wouldn't life be dull without a kernel panic or two now and then.

I learned the hardway with slakcware. I had to switch to an rpm based distro due to my printer and have decided on fedora so far I have been liking it. :)

[passive]

The main issues with each howto...
in the first case, I had failures with my keyboard, mouse and Nvidia graphics card. Unfortunately if you have an NVIDIA card you can't get a graphical UI until you recompile the driver against the new kernel interface if you do that then it removes the old driver effectively making the switch between kernels at boot non-trivial i.e. more involved than just selecting a kernel from the grub list! That said I don't think the NVIDIA compiles well against the 2.6 kernel interface, cos it still failed and errored - but that is more to do with nvidias installer than 2.6 I guess. But it still stuffs us NVIDIA users.

widesteps: try running the nvidia installer with the -k switch, it will compile and install the new driver, and leave others intact, if you take a look, there are also switches to allow you to compile for a non-running kernel as well, even a silent mode

[ronaldsh]

widesteps did mention that if install the kernel-source-*.rpm from Fedora Development team, there would be some Qt library dependence. Actually have any one resolved this ?

[rogerdugans]

I haven't yet ventured into multiple kernels on my test1 machine yet, but I have this to say about the NVidia drivers:

the 5336 worked fine for me as far as the install goes.

Performance stinks compared to the 4496's I run on my FC1 box (main rig) but the install went off without a hitch.