new kernel update? how necessary is this?

jimlynch11

ok so i pretty much just got my system running within the last week or so. and im damn happy with gentoo compared to other distro's i have tried (redhat, mandrake, lindows, elx). Anyway I did an emerge -up world just to see if everything was up to date, and it tells me there has been a new kernel released (gentoo-sources-2.4.20-r1) while I am running 2.4.19-r10. I also noticed that rc3 was recently released (i believe i installed rc2)My system is pretty stable right now but i guess my question comes in two parts:
1.) What do i gain from updating either the kernel, or the gentoo release. how often do these updates get released, how necessary are they, and what do they get me?
2.) How do i do it? is it possible to update to rc3 without rebuilding my system? Is installing a replacement kernel really necessary so frequently, or did i just time it bad?
Thanks for the input

Target · Apprentice Joined: 25 Apr 2002 Posts: 200

It isn't critical this time. Updating the kernel involves building & installing it and any modules it uses (including nvidia-kernel if you have an nvidia card), then booting into the new kernel.

As for myself- Something in the iptables API changed and broke a couple of my NATing rules, so I'm just sticking with 2.4.19-r10.

dreamer3 · Guru Joined: 24 Sep 2002 Posts: 553

jimlynch11 · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 5:46 am Post subject:

the emerge system supposedly installs the kernel...do i then just follow the same steps as i did when i built my first kernel for the original install? is there somewhere that will tell me a list of changes so that i know whether i should or shouldn't do it?

dreamer3 · Guru Joined: 24 Sep 2002 Posts: 553

Target · Apprentice Joined: 25 Apr 2002 Posts: 200

Actually, this is one of the times where emerge does NOT compile the software for you. You just have the sources in /usr/src now.

The selection of kernel option is too complex to be handled by a build script. You'll need to configure and build it yourself. That said, though... there's really not much point to upgrading if 2.4.19-r10 is running fine for you.
You should only really upgrade if it's a security fix, or if the new kernel does something new that you need.

jufoa · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 8:41 am Post subject:

i think that if everything works with that 2.4.19 kernel. there is no reason to upgrade to 2.4.20. there isn't so much new that it is worth it.

cederberg · Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2003 10:31 am Post subject:

It is not so hard to update the kernel. The Gentoo elders have already done it so many times, that they actually decided to document it... :-)