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stardotstar
l33t
Joined: 10 Feb 2006
Posts: 887
Location: 2074/SYD/NSW/AU
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 Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:33 am Post subject: Kernel Headers for the system |
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I have been done a bad things recently and messed up my /usr/src directory symlink (yeah well I was playing around), I broke the link to the original kernel headers for the Gentoo system that everything was originally emerged under.
Now I don't know what the symlink should be for the kernel I am now running. Built in ~/kernel and then only installed as root in /boot and for make modules_install
I relinked the linux directory to the original kernel but I am really casting about here - is it possible that portage has changed the requirements for that symlink since updating system and world many times??
How do I go about determining the system is healthy?
I am currently running a kernel.org 2.6.17.1 kernel and Gnome 2.14 so it is kind of experimental I know, but I would like to understand the principals at play here: can I find out if there are any packages on the system built with kernel headers that are not what the system is going to be looking at???
| Code: |
stardotstar@geko ~ $ ls /usr/src -l
total 40264
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 32352 Mar 22 20:13 bak.config
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Jun 28 16:47 linux -> linux-2.6.15-gentoo-r1/
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4096 Mar 29 19:59 linux-2.6.15-gentoo-r1
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Apr 28 22:57 linux-2.6.16-gentoo-r3
drwxr-xr-x 19 root root 4096 Jun 27 10:15 linux-2.6.16-gentoo-r9
drwxrwxrwx 20 root root 4096 Jun 26 19:12 linux-2.6.16.11
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BTW nothing seems broken or wierd I am just beginning to learn some of the subtelties of good system design and maintenance.
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NeddySeagoon
Administrator
Joined: 05 Jul 2003
Posts: 55440
Location: 56N 3W
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| Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:47 am Post subject: |
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stardotstar,
Your system has two sets of kernel headers (at least).
One set is from the kernel-headers package and is what the system uses to build most things that need kernel headers.
It provides a stable set of headers that do not change when you update the /usr/src/linux symbolic link.
A few packages, like 3rd party kernel modules, need to compile against the kernel they will work with.
These packages use the /usr/src/linux link to find the kernel of the day that you wish to build them against.
You should probably point /usr/src/linux to your latest or running kernel and not worry about that symlink causing other problems.
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NeddySeagoon
Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
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stardotstar
l33t
Joined: 10 Feb 2006
Posts: 887
Location: 2074/SYD/NSW/AU
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| Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 1:37 am Post subject: |
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Thank you that is very informative.
Some of the packages you mention I have been pointing to the running kernel manually to be sure - VMWare, ipw2200/ieee80211 and suspend2.
Just worries me when I keep getting Linus' quote thrown at me from other sources:
| Quote: |
I would suggest that people who compile new kernels should:
- NOT do so in /usr/src. Leave whatever kernel (probably only the
header files) that the distribution came with there, but don't touch
it.
- compile the kernel in their own home directory, as their very own
selves. No need to be root to compile the kernel. You need to be root
to _install_ the kernel, but that's different.
- not have a single symbolic link in sight (except the one that the
kernel build itself sets up, namely the "linux/include/asm" symlink
that is only used for the internal kernel compile itself)
And yes, this is what I do. My /usr/src/linux still has the old 2.2.13
header files, even though I haven't run a 2.2.13 kernel in a _loong_
time. But those headers were what glibc was compiled against, so those
headers are what matches the library object files. |
So that maybe I have misinterpreted the context of this quote.
Certainly, Linus does not speak for a metadistro like Gentoo and therefore I am not presuming to know that one way is better than any other.
Will
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curtis119
Bodhisattva
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 2160
Location: Toledo, Ohio,USA, North America, Earth, SOL System, Milky Way, The Universe, The Cosmos, and Beyond.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 2:30 am Post subject: |
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| stardotstar wrote: | Thank you that is very informative.
Some of the packages you mention I have been pointing to the running kernel manually to be sure - VMWare, ipw2200/ieee80211 and suspend2.
Just worries me when I keep getting Linus' quote thrown at me from other sources:
| Quote: |
I would suggest that people who compile new kernels should:
- NOT do so in /usr/src. Leave whatever kernel (probably only the
header files) that the distribution came with there, but don't touch
it.
- compile the kernel in their own home directory, as their very own
selves. No need to be root to compile the kernel. You need to be root
to _install_ the kernel, but that's different.
- not have a single symbolic link in sight (except the one that the
kernel build itself sets up, namely the "linux/include/asm" symlink
that is only used for the internal kernel compile itself)
And yes, this is what I do. My /usr/src/linux still has the old 2.2.13
header files, even though I haven't run a 2.2.13 kernel in a _loong_
time. But those headers were what glibc was compiled against, so those
headers are what matches the library object files. |
So that maybe I have misinterpreted the context of this quote.
Certainly, Linus does not speak for a metadistro like Gentoo and therefore I am not presuming to know that one way is better than any other.
Will |
Linus is talking about binary distributions. Gentoo is a from-source distro so what he is saying there doesn't apply to us (but it very much DOES apply to any of the binary distros).
There was a post here somewhere from one of the kernel devs explaining why Gentoo's use of /usr/src/linux is OK but I can't seem to find it now.
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Gentoo: it's like wiping your ass with silk. |
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stardotstar
l33t
Joined: 10 Feb 2006
Posts: 887
Location: 2074/SYD/NSW/AU
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| Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 3:58 am Post subject: |
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Thank you that clears it up for me 
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