genkernel 3.0.1 How-to

[Suicidal]

I'm sorry I must have misread that - did you say SHOULD NOT???

I feel with the nature of genkernel 3.0x+ that they should not sell it as an easier way for first time installers (in it's current state). If you browse the forums there are alot of posts from people having issues with it. It probably would have been better if it had not have been marked stable untill gentoo 2004 was released, so the on CD documentation would have been current.

At the very least at the end of the ebuild it should ewarn the user to the /usr/share/genkernel/README for proper kernel & bootloader configuration.

[allancairns]

I'm sorry I must have misread that - did you say SHOULD NOT???

I feel with the nature of genkernel 3.0x+ that they should not sell it as an easier way for first time installers (in it's current state). If you browse the forums there are alot of posts from people having issues with it. It probably would have been better if it had not have been marked stable untill gentoo 2004 was released, so the on CD documentation would have been current.

At the very least at the end of the ebuild it should ewarn the user to the /usr/share/genkernel/README for proper kernel & bootloader configuration.

No argument there mate

I think there is a place for an 'out of the box' default/auto kernel config for gentoo such as we saw in 1.8. This is an essential item to make gentoo more approachable for people using it for the first time.

A number of people in these forums have argued against this on the basis that they don't want people who are not willing to learn to do it themselves. I am disappointed at the lack of vision this reveals. I am a recent convert to Gentoo and am delighted with what I found. I want to see Gentoo be the most successful distro it can be, and part of that is making it accessible to more than just the techno-geek segment.

In addition, I have often seen Gentoo referred to as a meta-distro because of it's ability to be customised and tweaked ala Debian. One of the hallmarks of Debian's success (in my eyes) is the way people took a distro that is notorious for not being the friendliest to install and came up with stuff like Knoppix (the benchmark for ease of install). Is it wrong to dream of something similar in the Gentoo space (either in Gentoo itself or a Gentoo-based distro)?

Don't get me wrong - I do want to learn to compile my own kernel but it is not a priority right now. I am having fun (no really ) right now getting apache2, php, mysql and phpmyadmin to place nicely and porting an ASP/VBScript web-based system I wrote over to PHP.

Cheers,

Allan

[qeldroma]

Well, i must agree. A tool that writes INOPERABEL initial ramdisks is far from beeing used by everyone, at my opinion.

I agree it has to be masked, OR this function has to be extra, so that advanced users only can try it.

[jpalko]

Does the new version of genkernel copy the .config file created during menuconfig to /usr/share/genkernel/{arch}/kernel-config-2.x or to /etc/kernels/config-{kernelversion} ?

Oh, well... http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39128

[allancairns]

ALRIGHT! Beta 8 of Genkernel 3.0.1 has been released with a MUCH better default config for x86. I ran it with the menuconfig option and checked all of the settings mentioned in this HOWTO and they were all correct OUT OF THE BOX! Ran the compile, install et al and the thing booted first time!

All is forgiven genkernel. Welcome home.

Now I can add cleaning out legacy alsa stuff to my todo list...

Cheers,

Allan

[M@rijn]

And what has to be the settings with lilo???

[Trejkaz]

I must say, last night was a hell of a time. Thank the lords for work-provided internet. Here's my journey, which I'm sure some of you have seen in part or in full.

• Ran "genkernel --config" and saw the menu. Thinking it looked more or less the same other than the new options for how much do do, did a "genkernel --menuconfig all".
• Since I didn't put in the "--install" bit, it didn't install, but I rebooted anyway.
• Machine didn't reboot properly. It came up with no networking, despite the 8139too.ko file existing in my modules directory. Seems something must have installed afterall. Looking at the kernel file it hadn't been updated since 10 Jan, so the modules must have been overwritten despite me not putting "--install" in!
• Tried to rebuild. No loop, no build. Catch-22 right there. I don't remember the loopback device being needed to build the kernel... or was it always there and the bad config just highlighted it by yanking the loop module from the kernel?
• Off to search for documentation. Rebooted in an earlier kernel, 2.6.0-gentoo-r2. This one booted but nvidia.o wasn't present anymore. Tried to "emerge nvidia-kernel" again but that failed "because the /usr/src/linux symlink wasn't present", yet it was, and I did make sure it was pointing at the right version!
• Decided to give up on getting XFree86 working and tried building a few more times, using 2.6.0-gentoo-r2 to build 2.6.1-gentoo. No dice, every reboot the same eth0 issue despite the driver being configured in, despite it being present, despite the alias being there! Trying to modprobe it, it said it was already in the kernel, yet eth0 still wouldn't come up!
• Gave up and hoped that I could find a fix today. Hopefully that latest 3.0.1 beta works first go (I was on beta6) and the nightmares will be over.

[TheBigBug]

For anyone with the "root block device unspecified or not detected" error, in this thread Corw|n of Amber points out that the initrd from Genkernel doesn't have ReiserFS support.

So, if you (like me) have the error above, the options are:
1) To wait for a new genkerel
2) To create your own initrd

I personally want to create my own initrd, so I'll do some searching and when I find out how to create an initrd, I'll post again.

[Trejkaz]

3.0.1_beta8 indeed rocks. It actually remembers the config from the previous run now... what a relief.

[el_compa]

Hi,

I can't seem to get bootsplash to emerge, thus I cannot emerge the latest genkernel-3.0.1-beta9. This is the error message, when I do emerge -U world (trying to emerge bootsplash):

>>> Unpacking bootsplash-0.6-r3.tar.bz2 to /var/tmp/portage/bootsplash-0.6-r3/work
>>> Source unpacked.
gcc -O2 -Wall -c -o fbmngplay.o fbmngplay.c
gcc -O2 -Wall -c -o messages.o messages.c
In file included from fbmngplay.c:18:
/usr/include/linux/fb.h:342: parse error before '*' token
/usr/include/linux/fb.h:345: parse error before "count"
make: *** [fbmngplay.o] Error 1
make: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....

!!! ERROR: media-gfx/bootsplash-0.6-r3 failed.
!!! Function src_compile, Line 25, Exitcode 2
!!! (no error message)


I'm running gentoo-dev-sources, uname -a:
Linux xyu 2.6.2-rc1-gentoo #1 Fri Jan 30 16:49:28 CST 2004 i686 Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.20GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux



If someone can help, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Thanks!


Mario

[TheBigBug]

And what has to be the settings with lilo???

You can find 'm here in the gentoo handbook.

Has anyone figured out yet how to make an initrd? I know Redhat has a tool for it, mkinitrd, which can be emerged. But I haven't had time to look any further.

[XiuX]

nice

[Suicidal]

For anyone with the "root block device unspecified or not detected" error, in this thread Corw|n of Amber points out that the initrd from Genkernel doesn't have ReiserFS support.

It doesn't really matter if you compile reiserfs support into the kernel. Both my boot and root partitions are reiserFS and genkernel works fine with them.

[thc013]

great emerged new genkernel beta 9 did genkernel all compiled kernel and now in my /boot folder everything is gone only the new kernel en intrd are there all my old kernels and my grub is gone

why ?

[scotthep]

Anybody know of a good 2.6 kernel Guide for manaul configuration? Because after reading this thread I've decided genkernel is a "no go"

I was hoping to find a more sure fire way to get kernel 2.6 up and running. I've always done manual configs in the past and didn't have many problems. But the last few times I did a manual config on 2.6 I was having all sorts of problems (not major, but annoying).

[brad_mssw]

great emerged new genkernel beta 9 did genkernel all compiled kernel and now in my /boot folder everything is gone only the new kernel en intrd are there all my old kernels and my grub is gone

why ?

easy, you must mount /boot before running genkernel. What you're
looking at is a kernel and initrd in an unmounted /boot which would reside
in your root instead... user error.

[Trejkaz]

Anybody know of a good 2.6 kernel Guide for manaul configuration? Because after reading this thread I've decided genkernel is a "no go"

I was hoping to find a more sure fire way to get kernel 2.6 up and running. I've always done manual configs in the past and didn't have many problems. But the last few times I did a manual config on 2.6 I was having all sorts of problems (not major, but annoying).

Actually since genkernel with --menuconfig still invokes the same configuration you would be using normally, you won't gain much out of not using it, except perhaps from it building in a slightly different fashion, and maybe having to do more yourself.

genkernel-3.0.1_beta8 seems rock solid to me, it saves the configuration each go, installs properly provided /boot is mounted before you start, and so forth. Granted, it would probably be nice if the default settings made it behave exactly like the old version, but it can be rigged up to behave exactly the same (only it doesn't mount /boot for you, the old version did, I'm sure of it.)

[mlsfit138]

BTW, I also have root partition mounted twice.

are you sure ?
i would bet that it is just because your real root is mounted over the rootfs (ramfs)
have a look at output of:
cat /proc/mounts

you should see something like:

rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
/dev/hda1 / reiserfs rw,noatime 0 0

output of df is wrong in this case, it sees two records for '/' in /proc/mounts (or /etc/mtab); then it calls statfs two times and the result is always the same (because the input parameter is '/' in both times)

i don't think that it is dangerous, it may be confusing, thought
it WON'T happen if you are not using initrd because there you mount root partition directly to '/' - but if you have your root partition on a drive where you need a module to be loaded to get an access there (not supported (not in kernel) ide controllers, etc ...)

i believe that you can simply ignore that

has this been verified? are we all sure this is safe? df shows / mounted twice on my system too.

[mhodak]

has this been verified? are we all sure this is safe? df shows / mounted twice on my system too.

It is verified, look at the bug thread:
http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38360
It should be harmless but there is no fix as of yet.

[Dasein]

If genkernel creates an initrd with the built in gentoo bootsplash, how do change bootsplash images?

I'll be a little more specific: I've taken the normal steps to change bootsplash themes, and succeeded in getting the theme to change after a certain point in the boot process. However, the original gentoo bootsplash always shows up first, and lasts through the majority of the boot process. I'm assuming that this is because the actual configuration file and graphic is integrated into the initrd file. (I used genkernel)

Now, every set of directions for changing bootsplash images I can find directs users to replace their initrd file. However, I can't do that without getting a kernel panic-- "VFS unable to mount root fs on ram0".

Is there a way around this, or do I pretty much need to rebuild the kernel manually to get the bootsplash I want?

[misao]

I've been looking into doing this too. If necessary, I'll go back to non-genkernel compiling, but, I've gotten used to genkernel...

Anyways, someone earlier mentioned a RH tool mkinitrd, so I'll give that a try this evening and see how it pans out.

-misao