Linux 2.4.8 is Out

Justin was the first to note that kernel 2.4.8 is out. Check the changelog, or just hit kernel.org, you know the drill.

Comments

Re:Movin' On Up

[pryan]

*cough*IIS*cough*Exchange*cough*BSOD*cough*Registr yCorruption*cough*DailyReboots*cough*IPStackHolesL ikeNuke*cough*

for those peopel who are gload to

[gimpboy]

promptly know that the software they use has been improved and fixed-

you should really check out freshmeat then. it's purpose is to let people know when software is updated. i even think fm will email you a digest so you dont even have to go there.

i suppose there are people who do not know about freshmeat and that is why they use slashdot for this purpose.

so for those not familar with it, freshmeat can be found at: www.freshmeat.net


using /. to find out about new software is sort of like using a jackhammer to put a nail in a piece of wood.

Check out #kernelnewbies

[goingware]

Check out #kernelnewbies on Open Projects Network IRC and http://www.kernelnewbies.org.

Yes this would be much better in the original article.

Re:emu10k1 drivers broken on compile

[Tril]

This comment has the fix for this problem.

EMU10K1 fixes, still no ice1712/envy24 :-(

[fishbowl]

I have a bone to pick with the M-Audio company.
They go as far as to put a penguin on the box claiming Linux support. But the linux support they claim to have amounts to two choices: an
ALSA driver that does not work, or the 4Front
OSS driver. The price for the 4Front driver
is quite shocking to me, on the order of $65.00.
Where are the OSS/Free drivers for Delta cards
(Audiophile 2496, etc.)? Had I known I'd have to
pay for a closed source driver, I would have kept
shopping for a pro sound card. If the 4Front
driver wasn't closed source, I'd pay their price.
Just can't win.

Re:EMU10K1 fixes, still no ice1712/envy24 :-(

[fishbowl]

The cost of the 4Front license for the two soundcards I have in my production box is about $125.00.

> Are you a starving artist who can barely
>scrape together rent and grocery money? Or are
>you an IT or audio professional with a nice
>urban loft, broadband internet, leased
>late-model car, slew of audio gear and other
>nifty toys?

Shit, I'm ALL THAT! :-)

I didn't say I was not going to buy the 4Front driver! I said I WAS going to (and now I have)
but I STILL WANT THE ALSA DRIVER TO WORK, and
I STILL WANT TO SEE A FREE DRIVER.
I don't understand how that escaped you, or why
it creates a problem.

>Another spoilt child on slashdot.

I'll bet you're more than a decade too young to call me "child."

Re:EMU10K1 fixes, still no ice1712/envy24 :-(

[imroy]

: an ALSA driver that does not work...

Sorry? The ALSA driver has worked flawlessly with my SB Live! Platinum ever since I got it almost 6 months ago. Ok, the mixer settings for the Live! Drive II panel aren't all that obvious, but I've hardly used that panel anyway. What problems did you have? I'd be willing to help you out. Email me.

Re:EMU10K1 fixes, still no ice1712/envy24 :-(

[Anonymous Coward]

I just received my DIO2496 card, and it works well with the latest alsa 0.9.0beta6, and envy24control from cvs tree. I am listening to music stored on my HD (raw pcm, no mp3 thanks) on my stereo system, via the optical output of the card.

Re:EMU10K1 fixes, still no ice1712/envy24 :-(

[fishbowl]

> I am listening to music ... via the optical >output of the card.

Does the analog output work?
Does it record from the analog input?
Can you set the patchbay routing params?
Can you toggle SCMS?
What sampling bitrates and frequencies
can you use?

Like I said elsewhere in the thread, the ALSA
driver appears to work, but no output, and the
OSS emulation layer appears to be quite broken.
I do not have marginal hardware, have tried many
versions of the Alsa driver as well as kernel
versions 2.2.19 and 2.4.[567], on both intel and
amd based machines with generally the same results. I think it's documented that the OSS
emulation support isn't ready for any multitrack
cards, so that would rule out ALSA from a certain
application perspective anyway.

I guess I'm stuck with buying the 4Front driver,
which wouldn't bother me that much if Midiman didn't imply that such a driver was included with
the card. At first, I loved them, but now I think they are complete bastards.

I don't imagine there's an OSS/Free module for
envy24 coming anytime soon. It sucks because there are so damned few options for 24bit/96khz
audio recording in linux. Midiman has filled the
niche in the hardware department, the software situation is pretty good, but if the damned driver costs half again as much as the card it's not a good deal. Nothing against 4Front, who will probably get my money anyway, but
why do I seem to be the only person who's upset here? We need an OSS/Free module for Delta cards.

Re:EMU10K1 fixes, still no ice1712/envy24 :-(

[Phork]

well thtas all well and good, but he is talking about delta cards, not hte sblive, there are multiple free drivers for sblive, but the poster said there are no free drivers for the delta cards that work(though a comment says the alsa drivers works now). Read the comment(not just the title), then reply.

Re:EMU10K1 fixes, still no ice1712/envy24 :-(

[syrjala]

Have you raised these issues on the ALSA mailing list(s)? For example if I'm not totally mistaken OSS emulation would be possible with the latest beta/cvs drivers using a LD_PRELOAD hack.

Re:EMU10K1 fixes, still no ice1712/envy24 :-(

[fishbowl]

>Have you tried getting the latest ALSA drivers >(9.0 beta6) from www.alsa-project.org? --Leo

Yes. Everything seems to load and work fine,
BUT there is no output, and the OSS emulation
does not work at all. The sad thing is that
the 4Front driver works extremely well; I may
end up buying it. But I had expected an OSS/Free
driver by now. Or maybe a free copy of the 4Front driver provided on the CD in the box with the AP2496 how about? If you advertise linux support for your product, I believe you should
provide exactly that. Putting a link on your
website to 4Front does not cut it. Neither does
putting a link to ALSA. Multitrack card support
in ALSA is NOT completed, and NOT at a production
level, and shouldn't be presented as such.

Granted, it's a lot better situation than with
my Echo Layla, which apparently will NEVER have
any Linux support, experimental or otherwise,
but I'm looking at the box my AP2496 came it, with the penguin logo all over the place, and
distressing over the fact that no Linux driver was included or provided by the manufacturer.

Re:EMU10K1 fixes, still no ice1712/envy24 :-(

[vinnythenose]

I have to say Alsa was a pain in the ass to get working the first time, but now that I know how it works (good old handy note book with notes on what I did the first few times) it's been good to me. Stupid Yamaha sound card.

Re:2.4.6+ broke vmware

[wowbagger]

Now, I wonder when Vmware will fully support XFree86 V4.x.x - without it running WinNT under Vmware is really slow on any graphics operation.

Hurry up and wait

[Spamhead]

Here we go again....

patch, make oldconfig, make bzlilo, make modules_install, depmod -a 2.4.8, cross fingers, reboot....

Damn. I forgot about that stupid third party kernel patch for my Tekram/Creative Labs/Nvidia/ hardware.

Looks like I'll have to wait another month for those NDA morons to catch up again.

Re:Hurry up and wait

[SegFault]

make modules_install does depmod for you now. Doesn't anyone pay attention to what the build actually does anymore? Sheesh.

Re:Hurry up and wait

[tzanger]

Damn. I forgot about that stupid third party kernel patch for my Tekram/Creative Labs/Nvidia/ hardware.

Not sure what you're smoking but most kernel updates don't break third-party drivers unless the source API has changed -- something which doesn't occur often in stable releases.

My nVidia kernel module (1241) has compiled without issue on every 2.4.x release to date. The VMWare kernel modules have worked up to 2.4.7, where they did manage to change the source API and ended up breaking compatibility. However, the VMWare mailing lists provided an answer (patch) the same day that the new kernel was released.

Perhaps you should start using the more expensive crack, since the cheap stuff seems to be affecting your thinking.

Re:Question for the masses of linu-geeks

[ink]

• cd /usr/src
• rm linux
• mkdir linux-2.4.8
• ln -s linux-2.4.8 linux
• bunzip2 -c linux-2.4.8.tar.bz2 | tar xv
• cp old-redhat-linux/.config linux
• cd linux
• make menuconfig (config, xconfig, whatever)
• make dep && make bzImage && make modules && make modules_install
• cp arch/blah/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage-2.2.18
• emacs /etc/lilo.conf
• lilo; sync
• reboot

Change as you prefer, of course.

Re:I can see the future...

[thing12]

Moderation Totals:Offtopic=2, Troll=5, Insightful=1, Funny=17, Overrated=6, Total=31.

Funny, sure.
Overrated, yes.
Troll, no doubt.
Offtopic, of course it is...
Insightful.... Insightful?!? C'mon... What kinda crack was that moderator smoking?

Re:2.4.6+ broke vmware

[fishbowl]

>Professional Linux users already know that when >you update a kernel, anything that's closely >tied to the kernel (ALSA, VMWare, etc.) gets >recompiled too. It comes with the territory.

If you have a reasonable expectation that those
things will compile, then that's great. If you
can't have that expectation, it's an indication that the QA process consists of "releasing it into the wild and hoping for the best."

I've been a linux user since 1.0.9, and I'm not
trying to imply that I'd put a 2.4.8 kernel into production on monday, or even change a working
2.4.5 system to anything later without a good reason. But if the devteam want
to break things, it's high time to start breaking them in a 2.5.0.

I pointed out vmware because it was what broke for me, and because it is something that is available to anyone testing the i386 kernel.
Probably it's a bad example because we should
expect things to be very breakable at that compatability level, and we should know that
very different results can be obtained from
different versions of the kernel, and even from
slight differences in kernel config. The more
adept ones go as far as to tweak the kernel beyond what's in make config, especially in the
graphics and networking departments. They know
that they have to do their own regression tests for every change and it's hard, expensive work.

I say that vmmon/net and alsa with at least the loopback soundcard should be part of the what's tested before a kernel is packaged for the stable tree. Yes it's not Linus' Alan's, or anyone else's responsibility to test this except the end users'. It would just be a nice, helpful, and professional thing to do.

"You should have known it would be broken" is
not an acceptable response to a compatability
bug report from the field. 2.4.[678] are updates to a stable product, not incremental beta releases.

Well, on a positive note, linux 2.4.8 seems to run okay under VMWare under 2.4.5. Where can
I get my hands on the testing framework Alan uses?

Re:2.4.6+ broke vmware

[mrossbrown]

I've been a linux user since 1.0.9, and I'm not trying to imply that I'd put a 2.4.8 kernel into production on monday, or even change a working 2.4.5 system to anything later without a good reason. But if the devteam want to break things, it's high time to start breaking them in a 2.5.0.

and

You should have known it would be broken" is not an acceptable response to a compatability bug report from the field. 2.4.[678] are updates to a stable product, not incremental beta releases.

You should limit your use of blanket statements to avoid confusing newbies into thinking the wrong thing.

What's broken? Your compilation of third party modules (where it's always been accepted practice that the onus is on the third-party developer to stay in sync with the mainline). The kernel isn't broken, the point releases are bugfixes and improvements. If a header or API changes slightly (which AFAIK is the only reason why VMWare fails on recent kernels) it should be viewed as a bugfix or cleanup, not an attempt to radically change the way the kernel works.

Again, it's the responsibility of third-party developers (i.e. VMWare) to insure that their product is compatible with the kernel, not vice-versa. Let the kernel developers worry about stability.

Case-in-point: The CVS of SGI's XFS is constantly kept in sync with stable kernel releases.

M. R.

emu10k1 drivers broken on compile

[Omnifarious]

The Makefile for the emu10k1 drivers erroneously includes 'joystick.o' in the emu10k1.o module. That .o file should only be included in 2.2 kernels in the first place, and in those, it should be stuck into a seperate module, emu10k1-joy.o

Times.

[friscolr]

Check the changelog, or just hit kernel.org, you know the drill.

[frisco@eff /music]$ uptime
8:52am up 142 days, 3:34, 2 users, load average: 3.10, 3.26, 3.05
[frisco@eff /music]$

no changing here. i'm waiting for a year uptime, then maybe i'll think about upgrading. i wonder what i did 142 days ago that required a reboot?

Re:Times.

[MajroMax]

no changing here. i'm waiting for a year uptime, then maybe i'll think about upgrading. i wonder what i did 142 days ago that required a reboot?

2.4.0?

Wow

[NDPTAL85]

You are so proud of your move to Windows that you bravely posted as an AC!!!

You know what would be really useful?

[Mustang Matt]

Included in the news clip it would be really useful if there was a link for newbies that explained how to compile. I'm not just talking about pointing to the how-to's, it needs to either be a direct link or a step by step guide.

If linux ever is to become main stream on the PC for average joe user, we really need to step up the help for newbies. Education is the solution to ignorance.

Re:You know what would be really useful?

[Col. Panic]

I agree. To customize the kernel for a system, one should be prepared to read a shitload of help screens during xconfig. There are alot of options in there and thay are hardware-specific so many need to be read, at least the first few times someone learns to configure the kernel.

That said, I think compiling the kernel is a fantastic learning experience and everyone should do it; just maybe not until they are already used to having to dig through documentation, use Google, etc.

Re:You know what would be really useful?

[KilobyteKnight]

Included in the news clip it would be really useful if there was a link for newbies that explained how to compile.

Recompiling the kernel is not exactly for newbies. Let them get comfortable with Linux first... and this may take a few months or even years for some. You have to have some idea what all those configuration switches do and why you might want to change some; otherwise you're more likely to break stuff than you are to optimize the system. Once they are comfortable enough to read a HOWTO, then the link you want will not be needed.

Anyone who doesn't know about the HOWTOs, or refuses to read them, definately does not need to be recompiling the kernel.

Re:Just hit kernel.org?

[FuegoFuerte]

One thing you forget to mention... unlike many sites mentioned on /., kernel.org is on a 100Mbit connection. In other words, they can serve a whole heck of a lot of people, and still have bandwidth left over. I don't think I've ever seen them useing over 80Mbit or so at any one time, even when 2.4.0 first came out. At the moment (1:38am, PDT), the bandwidth utilization is at 32.84 Mbit/s. In other words, they've still got almost 70Mbit/s not doing anything. While I generally agree that mirrors should be used, in the case of kernel.org it really doesn't make all that much difference.

Build Fails

[Wiggli]

Just tried a build with a configuration that worke d with 2.4.7. The build of the emu10k module failed. This is the first time a kernel build failed for me in a LONG time. Is it just me?

Re:Build Fails

[kilrogg]

The patch was rushed in at the last minute:

From the kernel mailing list:

"hm, edit drivers/sound/emu10k1/Makefile and remove the object reference for `joystick.o' -- i dont compile as a module so i missed this, thanks."

Re:Build Fails

[Wiggli]

Thanks so much for the info. I just built it into the kernel and it seems OK!

Re:Build Fails

[kilrogg]

It's already supported by the 2.4 kernel. The CVS version of this driver supports both 2.4 and 2.2, joystick.o is for 2.2 only. The person that made the patch (not an emu10k1 developer) didn't know this and Linux merged it in before anyone had a chance to spot fix it.

Re:Build Fails

[�laC|n]

Just tried a build with a configuration that worke d with 2.4.7. The build of the emu10k module failed. This is the first time a kernel build failed for me in a LONG time. Is it just me?

Just apply Alan Cox's 2.4.8ac1 patch, that'll fix it.

ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/alan/ 2.4/patch-2.4.8-ac1.bz2

Re:Build Fails

[Bronster]

Apparently the update to the emu10k broke building it as a module. I just build it into the kernel itself (not as a module) and it seems to work fine.

I have to admit I patched it with 2.4.8-ac1 (after patching my 2.4.6 with patch-2.4.7 and patch-2.4.8 from my local mirror) and it builds fine as either a module or builtin.

Yay for Alan.

Re:Build Fails

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope... Its not just you... Apparently the update to the emu10k broke building it as a module. I just build it into the kernel itself (not as a module) and it seems to work fine.

Re:Build Fails

[Anonymous Coward]

read the changelog...
they've changed teh emu10k module...
merged it with some other stuff.
the options will be different.

bound to happen eventually.
consider it a Good Thing (tm)
It means the driver you rely on
is now (hopefully) that much stabler.

Re:Just hit kernel.org?

[mlafranc]

Please kids, it's simple, I got my PATCH within 25 seconds of typying:

src@primal:~$ ftp ftp.ca.kernel.org
ftp
me@myaddress.com
cd pub/linux/kernel/v2.4
get patch-2.4.8.bz2
get patch-2.4.8.bz2.sign
bye

KeepItSimpleStupid

Use a MIRROR!

ftp.YOURCOUNTRYABBREV.kernel.org

Re:Been a while since we had a new kernel.

[reverius]

You know, it's not morning everywhere... tons of people are working during the day right now. I'm not sure where though.

By the way, where are you? It's 11 pm where I am.

How to Test Your New Kernel

[goingware]

Two articles I wrote on the subject of testing kernels:

• Why We Should All Test the New Linux Kernel
• Using Test Suites to Validate the Linux Kernel

You do test your kernel before putting it into production, don't you?

Re:How to Test Your New Kernel

[mulderlr]

You do test your kernel before putting it into production, don't you?

I thought that putting it into production was how you tested it! ;-)

Re:How to Test Your New Kernel

[Ed Avis]

Running tests after installing a new kernel sounds like a good idea, but it would be better if they could be automated. Hardware tests might be better run by hand, since they risk damaging cheap chop suey hardware, but for software tests (like Python, Mesa etc. mentioned on that page) it'd be possible to have the tests installed and ready to run.

What I mean is that every package in the distribution installs its test suite in /usr/test/ or somewhere, so after doing an upgrade you can just 'test everything' with a single command. As well as kernels, that would be handy for checking that a library upgrade hasn't broken anything which uses that library, a new shell hasn't broken any shell scripts, and so on.

Emu10k1 compilation problems

[Sits]

Whilst trying to compile the new kernel with the updated emu10k1 drivers I hit a a few problems (missing .o files I think). Has anyone else seen this?

Re:Emu10k1 compilation problems

[PenguinX]

Yes I saw it.... I'm going to wait until I see a patch =)

---

make[3]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.8/drivers/sound/emu10k1'
rm -f emu10k1.o
ld -m elf_i386 -r -o emu10k1.o audio.o cardmi.o cardmo.o cardwi.o cardwo.o ecard.o efxmgr.o emuadxmg.o hwaccess.o irqmgr.o joystick.o main.o midi.o mixer.o passthrough.o recmgr.o timer.o voicemgr.o
main.o(.modinfo+0x40): multiple definition of `__module_author'
joystick.o(.modinfo+0x80): first defined here
ld: Warning: size of symbol `__module_author' changed from 67 to 81 in main.o
main.o(.modinfo+0xa0): multiple definition of `__module_description'
joystick.o(.modinfo+0xe0): first defined here
ld: Warning: size of symbol `__module_description' changed from 83 to 96 in main.o
main.o: In function `init_module':
main.o(.text+0x1880): multiple definition of `init_module'
joystick.o(.text+0x210): first defined here
main.o: In function `cleanup_module':
main.o(.text+0x18c0): multiple definition of `cleanup_module'
joystick.o(.text+0x250): first defined here
make[3]: *** [emu10k1.o] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.8/drivers/sound/emu10k1'
make[2]: *** [_modsubdir_emu10k1] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.8/drivers/sound'
make[1]: *** [_modsubdir_sound] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.8/drivers'
make: *** [_mod_drivers] Error 2

Re:But I just got 2.4.7 working right!!!

[Uruk]

Older config files usually work great, especially just between a patchlevel difference like 2.4.7 -> 2.4.8.

Go into your source directory and do a "make mrproper". Then copy your old config file into ".config" and run "make oldconfig". It *might* ask you one or two questions, often they won't matter if your old kernel was working OK as is.

Then just go straight to the "make dep", "make bzImage", "make modules", etc.

Life would suck without the "make oldconfig" target. :)

Re:Fix available

[Sits]

As mentioned in another post there is a fix available for this. Take a look at this post emu10k1 mailing list.

Re:2.4.6+ broke vmware

[mansoft]

I'm using vmware with 2.4.7 and it works fine.

What basically failed were the vmmon and vmnet modules. You can download them here. But remember not to follow the instructions this time. Ungzip the files, rename them to vmmon.tar and vmnet.tar, copy them to your vmwareinstalldir/lib/modules/source directory, and then do a normal "vmware-install" or "vmware-config".

25 mods so far

[Micah]

I've seen it at scores 5,2,4,0,and 3 in that order.

Particularly noteworthy is the person that moderated it "Insightful".....

Will it get 30 or more mods? Only time will tell!

DRM

[Elendur]

I notice it says in the changelog that X 4.0x is no longer supported and you need 4.1.x.

People should take note of this...I suspect most people are still running 4.0.x. I know that's what's in debian woody as of earlier today.

It's possible I'm mistaken about how this works, but it seemed pretty self explanatory.

Re:DRM

[Oestergaard]

As Linus wrote in his e-mail to LKML:

Ok, this one has various VM niceness tweaks that have made some people
much happier. It also does a upgrade to the XFree86-4.1.x style DRM code,
which means that people with XFree86-4.0.x can no longer use the built-in
kernel DRM by default.

However, never fear. It's actually very easy to get the old DRM code too:
if you used to use the standard kernel DRM and do not want to upgrade to a
new XFree86 setup, just get the "drm-4.0.x" package from the same place
you get the kernel from, and do

- unpack the kernel
- cd linux/drivers/char
- unpack the "drm-4.0.x" package here
- mv drm new-drm
- mv drm-4.0.x drm

and you should be all set.

Re:Question for the masses of linu-geeks

[Lumpy]

BzzzT... I tried this with 2.4.7 and it broke every one of the damned startup programs.
Modules refused to load (Yet if I insmod the module it loads happily) the new hardware detection system fails with an error also.

I understand that that is a standard way to install a kernel. but from what I have seen so far, Redhat is not standard in any way anymore (was it ever?).

Re:Question for the masses of linu-geeks

[ink]

Hmm, works just fine on mine; I've run 2.4.5, 2.4.7 and now 2.4.8. Although, I had to remove the soundblaster live stuff from 2.4.8 and the buz driver from >2.4.3 (but that's not RedHat's fault). You must be changing some sort of configuration option.

Re:I can see the future...

[Micah]

Yikes, this thing was at Score: 5 a few minutes ago, now it's at Score: 2. I don't want to think about how many valuable mod points this troll just stoll from the system!!!

Re:Movin' On Up

[szomb]

Right on man!

My windows box caught fire, killed my girlfriend, and burnt off the left side of my face the other day!

Is there no justice in this world?!

emu10k1 update

[kilrogg]

The emu10k1 (aka the SBLive) updates were merged in at the last minute. a patch to fix compile problem was posted by one of the maintainers.

The user-tools can be download here

This update adds support for the 5.1 cards (including the IR remote, though it's still being reversed-eng'd), AC3 passthrough, multichannel playback (for AC3 pre-decoded in software), sequencer support, dsp effects (flanger, chorus, etc), and much more.

This is the first sync with CVS in almost a year (development was idle between Nov-April). Report any problems with the driver on the emu10k1 mailing, here: emu10k1-devel@opensource.creative.com

Re:emu10k1 update

[GoRK]

Yeah my lirc interface to the remote is coming along quickly. Probably 1-2 weeks.. Check the emu10k1-devel list for updates.

~GoRK

Re:emu10k1 update

[lupetto]

Hallelujah! The emu10k1 driver in 2.4.2 lacked so many basic features of the SBLive - most importantly to me was the headphone jack in the livedrive IR. DSP effects are also very important - I play guitar and can't access all the cool effect in Linux (had to reboot into windows for this, and I'm too cheap to buy 10 different effects boxes).

I tried using ALSA, which supposedly works, but I had a very hard time getting it installed. It wouldn't compile for the longest time. When I did eventually get it compiled, I had to hack around the configuration file, and could never get it working. The people at ALSA were not helpful - it's probably the worst example of an opensource project I've seen (lack of useful documentation, difficult to configure and install).

Can't wait to give the new kernel a try..

Re:Just hit kernel.org?

[qslack]

You make a good point, but you should still choose the mirror nearest you. If you're in Saudi Arabia and you download the latest kernel from kernel.org, it is not only going to be much slower for yourself but it will also cause needless international Internet traffic.

Re:But I just got 2.4.7 working right!!!

[Psychic_3one3]

In case you don't know, if you're on Debian, the combination of a kernel.org source tarball and the Debian `kernel-package' package seems to work nicely.

kernel-package is a replacement build process which compiles your freshly configured source and makes a binary .deb file, which you can then install with dpkg - basically, you run it after `make menuconfig' or `make oldconfig' or whatever, but see the docs supplied with it for real instructions. It's what the Debian maintainers use to make the precompiled generic kernels, and you can also make your own personal kernel-source package containing any patches you applied, if you so wish.

Question for the masses of linu-geeks

[Lumpy]

I have used linux for over 5 years now, I can compile the kernel in my sleep,etc...

I have a big question... HOW the hell do you compile and Install the kernel for a Redhat7.1 system without breaking every damned redhat tool? I kind of like the Automated hardware discovery config, and I would like to start setting up friends computers with linux (RH7.1+Ximian 1.4 is a Windows-killer.. I have 3 win-lovers converted because of that combo)

Not even redhat support can give me the answer to this question.

Re:Question for the masses of linu-geeks

[Lumpy]

where do I get the kernel 2.4.8 rpm then?
redhat only supports 2.4.3 :-)
how about adding hardware support that they didn't compile in? recompile from their srpms? Nope it blows up all the apps too.

I have yet to find anyone that can tell me the correct redhat kernel install commands. as a normal kernel install does not work.

Re:Question for the masses of linu-geeks

[TV-SET]

Use RedHat rpms... If you want to do it your way, then you have to remove installed kernel rpms from the system... or you'll get screwed :)

You can always use srpms, to make your own packages, which are easier then to distribute if you have more then 1-2 machines...

Re:Question for the masses of linu-geeks

[TV-SET]

Strangly, but it works for me. I am using now 2.4.8 (latest at the moment of writing).

And I did it both ways: building it from SRPMs and building it from clean source. None of my apps broke...

And I cannot say that I was taught how to do so during my RHCE exam pass :)

It is Saturday

[jhines]

Being the weekend, this is a slow news day, so they have to dig for every little bit of news.

If the alternative is no news, I'll take hearing about a new kernel.

Yay

[Gnight]

Can you feel the joy!?!?

... I can.

Re:Update a 2.4.6 or wait for 2.5

[synsent]

Yes I mean 2.6 of course.

What I Want To Know Is...

[Anonymous Coward]

When will the cryptography patches be updated?! I'm still stuck on 2.4.5pre1 for this reason!

Re:What I Want To Know Is...

[pdiaz]

If all that you want is FS encryption use loop-AES (use the google, luke!). It's kernel version independent and works great for me

BTW, I don't think my parent post should be marked as a troll. Maybe offtopic

Re:What I Want To Know Is...

[spoon42]

You're talking about the patch failing on Makefile, right? It's really a very minor problem, I've been editing it by hand. You just have to add the CRYPTO=crypto/crypto.o line and add crypto to the SUBDIRS. Running 2.4.8 now, mine looks like this:

CORE_FILES=ker nel/kernel.o mm/mm.o fs/fs.o ipc/ipc.o
NETWORKS =net/network.o
CRYPTO&n bsp;=crypto/crypto.o

LIBS&nbs p;=$(TOPDIR)/lib/lib.a
SUBDIRS& nbsp;=kernel drivers mm fs net ipc lib crypto

...hey guys? What the fuck happened to the <CODE> tag? This was a pain to type up. geez.

...AAAGGH!!! THE SPACES!!! I give up. Slash is fucking broken.

Re:What I Want To Know Is...

[danEger]

The reason why the latest i-patch doesn't work with newest kernels is because of some minor problems with the Makefile. For 2.4.7, I found this: http://www.xs4all.nl/~marceln/Misc/patch-int-2.4.7 .mn1.bz2. Works perfectly for me. I hope it works with 2.4.8 too :)

-Hans

Re:What I Want To Know Is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is this patch to be trusted. I see the download site for it is not some official patchsite. Or is it?

Re:What I Want To Know Is...

[mlafranc]

Ditto!

I might be forced to try 2.4.5-pre1, because I was trying to use 2.4.3 stable with major problems.

A recent stable kernel patch would be great, though qudoes for having a kernel patch to do this to begin with!

The kernel guys are doing great, the only problem is that there is a catchy disease spreading on slashdot to load up the newest kernel on earth 20 minutes after linus et al, make the final patch.

Also, I'll admit that I have no legitimate reason to use a LoopbackEFS, but it's fun dammit!

Kernel

[Anonymous Coward]

Wowzers, so where is the setup.exe? Do I have to edit my registry??? SuperZike.com

Re:I'm glad I moved my server over to Windows 2000

[snofla]

Dude, you shouldn't update your server box with new linux releases. Stick with one trued and tried kernel version. And believe me, for a server you don't need XFree 4.1.0 or emu10k.

Re:I'm glad I moved my server over to Windows 2000

[aonifer]

And believe me, for a server you don't need XFree 4.1.0 or emu10k.

But I have mine blare a Star Trek klaxon sound and start the Matrix code screensaver every time a Code Red probe is found!

Re:I'm glad I moved my server over to Windows 2000

[richie123]

Ya, instead of regualar updates you just get to put-up with tons broken garbage for the next six months wainting for the next service pack, and pray that when it arrives it won't trash anythng that works in your current config.

It will work...

[AlXtreme]

Just download the DRM 4.0.x patch from kernel.org.
You don't have to upgrade XF86 4.0.x, but i guess you should think about it anyways...

Re:But I just got 2.4.7 working right!!!

[No Tears In The End]

When 2.4.0 came out, it took me a little bit of time to get it properly configured and running. TWO DAYS after I had 2.4.0 running properly, 2.4.1 came out. At that point I decided FUCK IT!, I am only going to upgrade my kernel quarterly, on a mid number version change, or for security reasons. It's not worth the headache to upgrade kernels at every update.

Re:2.4.6+ broke vmware

[Bodnar42]

The interfaces that 2.4.x exposed to the world have been quite stable during the branch's lifetime. However, the internal interfaces have and always willbe subject to change, and this break VMWare's kernel modules.

It is not the role of the kernel maintainers to cater to commerical software vendors. The kernel hackers want to push out the best standalone product possible, and this involves making modifications to the internal architecture when nessicary. These sorts of changes will break compatibility with kernel modules external to the kernel tree. They are quite aware of this, and are knowingly making the comprimise

Anyways, if you want the kernel evolution to standstill just so your stupid commerical apps will always run the way they always have, why don't you just refrain from upgrading your kernel?

-Bodnar42

Re:not so fast, jim.

[friscolr]

looking at the load average you need a new processor

Thanks for the advice. I am running a dual PIII machine (i built it a while ago; today i'd make it a dual athlon) and that load average is from 3 processes: netscape (after a week it goes crazy) and 2 sessions of seti@home. Killing those off brings everything back into the "zippy" speed range, otherwise it's just normal.

Re:Update a 2.4.6 or wait for 2.5

[lavaforge]

I don't think you would want to use 2.5. It's an unstable testing branch of the tree, as all odd numbered kernals are.

Re:The slightly more detailed changelog...

[Dogcow]

Oh, and if you're going to have a look, click on some of the filenames and bring up some diffs of various files to see what changes have been made.

For example, the MAINTAINERS. Once you've clicked on this, click on the "Diff to previous" option and you can see what changes were made between 2.4.7 and 2.4.8 (click here). Or, click "Select for diffs" on one kernel and then on "to selected" on another further down on the same page. For example, check what changes were made in the MAINTAINERS file between 2.4.6 and 2.4.8 here.

"No more hidden changes" :)

Re:great!

[Anonymous Coward]

lilo? Oh crap I've been running 2.4.1 all this time...

Re:I can see the future...

[Micah]

but granted, it IS the funniest troll I have *ever* seen!!!!!!!! I'm still ROTFL an hour later....

Re:Enough is enough!

[DreamSynthesis]

Actually, ughh... no. Let me point out the fun fact that I first learned about the Linux family of OSes from sites like this one. /. has garnered a reputation as a place for both newbies and old hats alike to gather and discuss "things geek."

Personally, I happen to check /. at least three or four times a day, so I kinda find it nice to see this here... plus, you know there's always the added bonus of being able to discuss the new features and fixes here before slapping it onto a server.

That's sort of what sites like /. are for. I think you forgot that part.

Update a 2.4.6 or wait for 2.5

[synsent]

Is there a cause for updating a 2.4.6 kernel? Are there important bugfixes? The 2.4.6 works very well for me I think I will wait for the 2.5.

Re:2.4.6+ broke vmware

[David Hume]

The kernel hackers want to push out the best standalone product possible....

I thought that if there was anything in this world that was not a "standalone product," it was an operating system. If an "improvement" breaks important and/or popular applications, just how much of an "improvement" is it really?

Then again, it is not like VMware is either popular or important. Who cares if people can run their "stupid" commercial apps? Particuarly if they are those stupid Windows productivity applications that no one uses anway.

Far better for the Linux world for those VMware lusers to simply save their data, reformat, and install Windows XP.

Re:But I just got 2.4.7 working right!!!

[norton_I]

In case you didn't realize it: You should run "make oldconfig" after patching your kernel to make sure everything is in order, and to see what new options there are (I didn't see any in this one)

Re:But I just got 2.4.7 working right!!!

[Gnight]

How about you get the patch?

Then after you patch it you can just "make old_config" which only asks you about new stuff.

Good luck

Re:But I just got 2.4.7 working right!!!

[Gnight]

ahem, "make oldconfig", not "make old_config"
Whups, sorry.

Duh! 'make oldconfig'

[bored]

works wonders

Re:Movin' On Up

[demon]

The reason no one _can_ sue them is because (a) no one has (to my knowledge) been physically injured or killed (yet) due to bugs in Windows, and (b) Microsoft disclaims thee everliving fuck out of all their products in their EULA (This product is not guaranteed for any purpose, even the purpose it was intended for; no warranties, express or implied; we cannot be held legally liable for this product's failure to perform under any circumstances; if it breaks, you keep all the pieces; etc.), so unless it _really_ screws up, you can't do anything about it. (And of course, the fact that if you did try to use it in a mission-critical application of any kind, they'll point right at the EULA and say "Gee, we said not to do that, didn't we!?!?")

I can see the future...

[Anonymous Coward]

Three guys found themselves in Hell: CmdrTaco, Hemos, and Jon Katz. A little
confused at their present situation, they were startled to see a door
in the wall (which they hadn't noticed before) open, and behind the
door was perhaps the Ugliest woman they had ever seen. She was 3'4",
dirty, and you could smell her even over the Brimstone.

The voice of the Devil was heard, "CmdrTaco, you have sinned!!! You are
condemned to spend the rest of eternity in bed with this woman!" And
CmdrTaco was whisked through the door by a group of lesser demons to his
doom.

This understandably shook up the other two, and so they both jumped
when a second door opened, and lo! an even more disgusting example of
womanhood gone wrong. She was over 7', covered in thick black hair,
and flies circled her.

The Voice of the Devil was heard, "Hemos, you have sinned!!! You are
condemned to spend the rest of eternity in bed with this woman!!!" And
Hemos, like CmdrTaco, was whisked off.

Jon Katz, now alone, felt understandably anxious, and feared the worst
when the third door opened. And as the door inched open, he strained
to see the figure of... Natalie Portman!!!!!!!!!!!!

Delighted, Jon Katz jumped up, taking in the sight of this beautiful
woman, barely dressed in a shiny metallic NASA-space-age material
bikini. Then he heard the voice of the Devil say :

"Natalie, you have sinned ........"

Re:I can see the future...

[Pacorro]

This is the funniest post I have read in a while on /.

Re:I can see the future...

[JBowz15]

Now that is a quality troll! I don't think I've ever seen a troll get moderated up to +5 before.

Re:I can see the future...

[reverius]

I'm not sure if this is "funny" or "troll"... :)

Seems like there should be a "+1, troll" option. :P

I'm kinda scared of any post on /. that mentions Natalie Portman, though. ;)

Re:I can see the future...

[Genyin]

Truely, truely masterful. Not the joke, so much as the fact it didn't get modded down to -1 where, in all honesty, it should be... (-1 funny?)

Re:I can see the future...

[Jailbrekr]

ROFL

Mod this baby up

ROFL

There is a new option

[Isaac-Lew]

I ran 'make oldconfig', and because my config has support for experimental modules I saw that there's an option for PNPBIOS support (labeled as experimental). Since there wasn't a help file on it I left it unchecked, anyone care to tell what it does?

Re:There is a new option

[Tril]

From the latest Configure.help at the CML2 page:

CONFIG_PNPBIOS Linux uses the PNPBIOS as defined in "Plug and Play BIOS Specification Version 1.0A May 5, 1994" to autodetect built-in mainboard resources (e.g. parallel port resources). Other features (e.g. change resources, ESCD, event notification, Docking station information, ISAPNP services) are not used. Note: ACPI is expected to supersede PNPBIOS some day, currently it co-exists nicely. See latest pcmcia-cs (stand-alone package) for a nice "lspnp" tools, or have a look at /proc/bus/pnp. If unsure, say Y.

Re:2.4.6+ broke vmware

[Sapien__]

The following steps should get vmmon working on 2.4.6+. They worked for me.

1. Go to /usr/lib/vmware/modules/source and untar vmmon.tar
2. In vmmon-only/common/hostif.h comment out the
"undef PAGE_SIZE", "undef PAGE_MASK", "undef PAGE_OFFSET", and "undef APIC_ID_MASK" lines (lines 35-38)
3. In vmmon-only/linux/driver.c change line 928 from "current->dumpable = 1;" to "current->mm->dumpable = 1;"
4. Re-tar it all back up again, and run vmmon-config.pl

I had a patch but Slashcode thought it was too lame.

Does X 4.0.x still work?

[robkore]

Can anyone tell me if X 4.0.x still works with this kernel, or is it absolutely necessary to upgrade to 4.1.x?

Aureal Vortex

[NitsujTPU]

Anybody else with an aureal vortex got compile errors? I'm working on a solution now, but that bug hasn't bit me in a good while.

Re:Aureal Vortex

[NitsujTPU]

Just updated my cvs tree and it's golden now. Oops.

Re:Aureal Vortex

[Anonymous Coward]

For those who don't know of which CVS tree Nitsuj speaks of, go to aureal.sourceforge.net, and checkout the CVS repository there.

This is an oldie.

[Webmonger]

There are so many versions out there that I'm not going to guess which is original.

This troll seems to be based on this version because it mentions space-age material.

Amusingly the identities of the three guys keep changing, but it's always Cindy Crawford who comes for the last one. ('Cept here, of course.)

Just hit kernel.org?

[qslack]

I wonder why the /. editors are telling us to "Just hit Kernel.org" when everyone SHOULD use the mirrors.

Wait a few hours for the changes to propogate, then find a local mirror at http://kernel.org/mirrors/. It helps everyone: Kernel.org still has bandwidth, and you get faster download speeds!

VIA 686B bug fixed?

[roka]

I'm using 2.4.6ac5 now and everything works perfect (unlike every other 2.4 Kernel I tested). I couldn't find anything about a merge for 2.4.8 in the changelog ..

Movin' On Up

[malus]

Sadly, I cannot resist the crack-like addiction to having, holding and cherishing the latest greatest kernel release. It's been that way for me since 2.0.10

Even now, I have my box doing everything I need it to, and it does it well. So why do I tempt breakage by going to 2.4.8?

+++

Now for little Microsoft Rant.

You see, I can't wait to move to a newer Linux kernel release. How many MS OS users can honestly tell me they enjoy moving to a new release of MS system software?

With Linux, nobody is puting a gun to my head and forcing me to make this upgrade, nobody is telling me "Update your system software for More Security! More Configurability! More Stability!".

No, quite the opposite. The Linux kernel developers give me a gift every few months, "Here, lookut' we made. Give it a try if you want."

Microsoft takes such a different, unfortunate attitude towards their system software evolution

"Here, buy this new update or you will die. We cannot and will not be held responsible for any cancers, distended bowels, hypertension, or any other fate which might befall you if you do not upgrade"

+++

Such a pity that MS will never, ever, due to clauses in the EULA, face massive fines and class action lawsuits for the instability of their product (Specifically WIndows operatiting systems)

If Toyota released a new Car which caught fire at every 5th stoplight, it'd be recalled, and Toyota would in the least settle some out of court cases to familys of burnt owners.

MS has hundreds of these type of bugs. To think that the damage these faults cause is unlike the previous burning example, you're mistaken.

Yet nothing happens? No Gov't investigation? I just don't get it.

Re:Enough is enough!

[jayhawk88]

Seriously dude, what the hell else are they gonna post at 12:45 am Saturday?

Re:Enough is enough!

[Cardhore]

For every troll who says "slashdot isn't freshmeat," there are a hundred people who silently are glad to promptly know that the software they use has been improved and fixed.

Like me.

Re:Enough is enough!

[Anonymous Coward]

On the contrary, any missing minor number in this compendium of linux releases is a great loss for future historians.

not so fast, jim.

[thopo]

you will probably need to reboot soon. looking at the load average you need a new processor ...

The slightly more detailed changelog...

[Dogcow]

Linux Kernel in CVS:

http://orbital.wiretapped.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/l inux-kernel/2.4/

(nmap is also in CVS http://orbital.wiretapped.net/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/n map/)

Radeonfb has disappeared!!

[dmantione]

That's back to 2.4.6ac5 for me...

Re:2.4.6+ broke vmware

[mrossbrown]

I wouldn't mention this, but 2.4 is supposed to be the STABLE tree. If the interface is changing, that's what the 2.5 series is for.

You shouldn't have. 2.4.x is the stable tree, which means that bugfixes, optimizations, and suggestions of improvement go into these kernels. Massive changes to the entire tree (like a rewrite of the MM, CML2) do not, as it would break kernel builds for a number of releases.

Something as big as compatability with VMWare ought to be checked before releasing.

Hmm, I think you have it the other way around. The VMWare developers are responsible for any breakage to their source-only modules, that's the reason they distribute them in source form, so that they can be in tune with the latest kernel release.

Anyway, get all your 2.4.6+ (and older) VMWare kernel fixes here:

ftp://platan.vc.cvut.cz/pub/vmware/

I'm currently using VMWare with 2.4.7.

Professional users of Linux are still hurting for credibility, and this kind of thing just does not help.

Professional Linux users already know that when you update a kernel, anything that's closely tied to the kernel (ALSA, VMWare, etc.) gets recompiled too. It comes with the territory.

M. R.

Linux ... Out ?

[Anonymous Coward]

I didn't even know it was gay !

.

Having APM problems

[LinuxHam]

I patched and rebuilt, and I'm having unresolved symbols errors while loading the apm module on a Thinkpad 570.

I've tried rm -rf /lib/modules/2.4.8 and make modules_install and even copying System.map to /boot/System.map-2.4.8 all to no avail.

Anyone else getting this?

Re:Hooray!

[jhines]

these point releases are like service packs for MS products. They do a roll up of all the bug fixes in one neat package.

Compared to installing an the os, service packs, and twenty some patches, which is what a MS installation takes, a kernel upgrade is one step process.

MS would take a lot less flack if they were to release roll up service packs as often as the open source world. The code red thing is a good example of the need for this.

this wont work with XFree 4.0.x?

[skymester]

- Jeff Hartmann: upgrade DRM to XF86 4.1.x, drop support for 4.0.x What does this mean? Is there no more support for XFree 4.0.x, do i HAVE to upgrade xfree to if i want to continue using DRM? I am confused. Martin

Re:Hooray!

[hokie93]

Where exactly in the release notes did you see security fixes? Kernel updates are for people who need kernel upgrades. Is there something not working on your system? If not, STFU!

I've read the release notes and there is nothing in them that compels me to upgrade. I'll probably upgrade the kernel next time RedHat creates a new kernel update which they can cooordinate with a new XFree86 update.

Re:But I just got 2.4.7 working right!!!

[jhittner]

You could also use the save config to alt file, and load config from alt file in make menuconfig and make xconfig

Its also a nice way of tracking different configurations

2.4.6+ broke vmware

[fishbowl]

2.4.6 broke VMware's modules. 2.4.7 broke them even worse. I wouldn't mention this, but 2.4 is supposed to be the STABLE tree. If the interface is changing, that's what the 2.5 series is for. Something as big as compatability with VMWare ought to be checked before releasing. If no-one is doing any QA on the big easy obvious things, what little things are breaking that nobody knows about? Professional users of Linux are still hurting for credibility, and this kind of thing just does not help.

Re:Hooray!

[SuiteSisterMary]

Bullshit. Every time slashdot does some story, all you ever hear is 'oh, I don't have time to install a patch a week on all my servers.' And bullshit. Kernal upgrades are NOT a one step process. Read the fucking comments. People complaining about interfaces changing, vmware breaking, XFree breaking, drivers changing, and so on.