4 This document is designed to provide a list of the minimum levels of
5 software necessary to run the 2.6 kernels, as well as provide brief
6 instructions regarding any other "Gotchas" users may encounter when
7 trying life on the Bleeding Edge. If upgrading from a pre-2.4.x
8 kernel, please consult the Changes file included with 2.4.x kernels for
9 additional information; most of that information will not be repeated
10 here. Basically, this document assumes that your system is already
11 functional and running at least 2.4.x kernels.
13 This document is originally based on my "Changes" file for 2.0.x kernels
14 and therefore owes credit to the same people as that file (Jared Mauch,
15 Axel Boldt, Alessandro Sigala, and countless other users all over the
18 The latest revision of this document, in various formats, can always
19 be found at <http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/kaboom/linux/Changes-2.4/>.
21 Feel free to translate this document. If you do so, please send me a
22 URL to your translation for inclusion in future revisions of this
25 Smotrite file <http://oblom.rnc.ru/linux/kernel/Changes.ru>, yavlyaushisya
26 russkim perevodom dannogo documenta.
28 Visite <http://www2.adi.uam.es/~ender/tecnico/> para obtener la traducción
29 al español de este documento en varios formatos.
31 Eine deutsche Version dieser Datei finden Sie unter
32 <http://www.stefan-winter.de/Changes-2.4.0.txt>.
34 Last updated: October 29th, 2002
36 Chris Ricker (kaboom@gatech.edu or chris.ricker@genetics.utah.edu).
38 Current Minimal Requirements
39 ============================
41 Upgrade to at *least* these software revisions before thinking you've
42 encountered a bug! If you're unsure what version you're currently
43 running, the suggested command should tell you.
45 Again, keep in mind that this list assumes you are already
46 functionally running a Linux 2.4 kernel. Also, not all tools are
47 necessary on all systems; obviously, if you don't have any ISDN
48 hardware, for example, you probably needn't concern yourself with
51 o Gnu C 2.95.3 # gcc --version
52 o Gnu make 3.79.1 # make --version
53 o binutils 2.12 # ld -v
54 o util-linux 2.10o # fdformat --version
55 o module-init-tools 0.9.10 # depmod -V
56 o e2fsprogs 1.29 # tune2fs
57 o jfsutils 1.1.3 # fsck.jfs -V
58 o reiserfsprogs 3.6.3 # reiserfsck -V 2>&1|grep reiserfsprogs
59 o xfsprogs 2.6.0 # xfs_db -V
61 o pcmcia-cs 3.1.21 # cardmgr -V
62 o quota-tools 3.09 # quota -V
63 o PPP 2.4.0 # pppd --version
64 o isdn4k-utils 3.1pre1 # isdnctrl 2>&1|grep version
65 o nfs-utils 1.0.5 # showmount --version
66 o procps 3.2.0 # ps --version
67 o oprofile 0.9 # oprofiled --version
68 o udev 058 # udevinfo -V
76 The gcc version requirements may vary depending on the type of CPU in your
77 computer. The next paragraph applies to users of x86 CPUs, but not
78 necessarily to users of other CPUs. Users of other CPUs should obtain
79 information about their gcc version requirements from another source.
81 The recommended compiler for the kernel is gcc 2.95.x (x >= 3), and it
82 should be used when you need absolute stability. You may use gcc 3.0.x
83 instead if you wish, although it may cause problems. Later versions of gcc
84 have not received much testing for Linux kernel compilation, and there are
85 almost certainly bugs (mainly, but not exclusively, in the kernel) that
86 will need to be fixed in order to use these compilers. In any case, using
87 pgcc instead of plain gcc is just asking for trouble.
89 The Red Hat gcc 2.96 compiler subtree can also be used to build this tree.
90 You should ensure you use gcc-2.96-74 or later. gcc-2.96-54 will not build
93 In addition, please pay attention to compiler optimization. Anything
94 greater than -O2 may not be wise. Similarly, if you choose to use gcc-2.95.x
95 or derivatives, be sure not to use -fstrict-aliasing (which, depending on
96 your version of gcc 2.95.x, may necessitate using -fno-strict-aliasing).
101 You will need Gnu make 3.79.1 or later to build the kernel.
106 Linux on IA-32 has recently switched from using as86 to using gas for
107 assembling the 16-bit boot code, removing the need for as86 to compile
108 your kernel. This change does, however, mean that you need a recent
114 Architectural changes
115 ---------------------
117 DevFS has been obsoleted in favour of udev
118 (http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/)
120 32-bit UID support is now in place. Have fun!
122 Linux documentation for functions is transitioning to inline
123 documentation via specially-formatted comments near their
124 definitions in the source. These comments can be combined with the
125 SGML templates in the Documentation/DocBook directory to make DocBook
126 files, which can then be converted by DocBook stylesheets to PostScript,
127 HTML, PDF files, and several other formats. In order to convert from
128 DocBook format to a format of your choice, you'll need to install Jade as
129 well as the desired DocBook stylesheets.
134 New versions of util-linux provide *fdisk support for larger disks,
135 support new options to mount, recognize more supported partition
136 types, have a fdformat which works with 2.4 kernels, and similar goodies.
137 You'll probably want to upgrade.
142 If the unthinkable happens and your kernel oopses, you'll need a 2.4
143 version of ksymoops to decode the report; see REPORTING-BUGS in the
144 root of the Linux source for more information.
149 A new module loader is now in the kernel that requires module-init-tools
150 to use. It is backward compatible with the 2.4.x series kernels.
155 These changes to the /lib/modules file tree layout also require that
156 mkinitrd be upgraded.
161 The latest version of e2fsprogs fixes several bugs in fsck and
162 debugfs. Obviously, it's a good idea to upgrade.
167 The jfsutils package contains the utilities for the file system.
168 The following utilities are available:
169 o fsck.jfs - initiate replay of the transaction log, and check
170 and repair a JFS formatted partition.
171 o mkfs.jfs - create a JFS formatted partition.
172 o other file system utilities are also available in this package.
177 The reiserfsprogs package should be used for reiserfs-3.6.x
178 (Linux kernels 2.4.x). It is a combined package and contains working
179 versions of mkreiserfs, resize_reiserfs, debugreiserfs and
180 reiserfsck. These utils work on both i386 and alpha platforms.
185 The latest version of xfsprogs contains mkfs.xfs, xfs_db, and the
186 xfs_repair utilities, among others, for the XFS filesystem. It is
187 architecture independent and any version from 2.0.0 onward should
188 work correctly with this version of the XFS kernel code (2.6.0 or
189 later is recommended, due to some significant improvements).
194 PCMCIAutils replaces pcmcia-cs (see below). It properly sets up
195 PCMCIA sockets at system startup and loads the appropriate modules
196 for 16-bit PCMCIA devices if the kernel is modularized and the hotplug
202 PCMCIA (PC Card) support is now partially implemented in the main
203 kernel source. The "pcmciautils" package (see above) replaces pcmcia-cs
209 Support for 32 bit uid's and gid's is required if you want to use
210 the newer version 2 quota format. Quota-tools version 3.07 and
211 newer has this support. Use the recommended version or newer
212 from the table above.
217 A driver has been added to allow updating of Intel IA32 microcode,
218 accessible as both a devfs regular file and as a normal (misc)
219 character device. If you are not using devfs you may need to:
222 mknod /dev/cpu/microcode c 10 184
223 chmod 0644 /dev/cpu/microcode
225 as root before you can use this. You'll probably also want to
226 get the user-space microcode_ctl utility to use with this.
231 If you are running v0.1.17 or earlier, you should upgrade to
232 version v0.99.0 or higher. Running old versions may cause problems
233 with programs using shared memory.
237 udev is a userspace application for populating /dev dynamically with
238 only entries for devices actually present. udev replaces devfs.
246 If you have advanced network configuration needs, you should probably
247 consider using the network tools from ip-route2.
251 The packet filtering and NAT code uses the same tools like the previous 2.4.x
252 kernel series (iptables). It still includes backwards-compatibility modules
253 for 2.2.x-style ipchains and 2.0.x-style ipfwadm.
258 The PPP driver has been restructured to support multilink and to
259 enable it to operate over diverse media layers. If you use PPP,
260 upgrade pppd to at least 2.4.0.
262 If you are not using devfs, you must have the device file /dev/ppp
263 which can be made by:
265 mknod /dev/ppp c 108 0
269 If you use devfsd and build ppp support as modules, you will need
270 the following in your /etc/devfsd.conf file:
277 Due to changes in the length of the phone number field, isdn4k-utils
278 needs to be recompiled or (preferably) upgraded.
283 In 2.4 and earlier kernels, the nfs server needed to know about any
284 client that expected to be able to access files via NFS. This
285 information would be given to the kernel by "mountd" when the client
286 mounted the filesystem, or by "exportfs" at system startup. exportfs
287 would take information about active clients from /var/lib/nfs/rmtab.
289 This approach is quite fragile as it depends on rmtab being correct
290 which is not always easy, particularly when trying to implement
291 fail-over. Even when the system is working well, rmtab suffers from
292 getting lots of old entries that never get removed.
294 With 2.6 we have the option of having the kernel tell mountd when it
295 gets a request from an unknown host, and mountd can give appropriate
296 export information to the kernel. This removes the dependency on
297 rmtab and means that the kernel only needs to know about currently
300 To enable this new functionality, you need to:
302 mount -t nfsd nfsd /proc/fs/nfs
304 before running exportfs or mountd. It is recommended that all NFS
305 services be protected from the internet-at-large by a firewall where
308 Getting updated software
309 ========================
316 o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-2.95.3.tar.gz>
320 o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/>
324 o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/devel/binutils/>
331 o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>
335 o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/v2.4/>
339 o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/rusty/modules/>
343 o <ftp://rawhide.redhat.com/pub/rawhide/SRPMS/SRPMS/>
347 o <http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/e2fsprogs/e2fsprogs-1.29.tar.gz>
351 o <http://jfs.sourceforge.net/>
355 o <http://www.namesys.com/pub/reiserfsprogs/reiserfsprogs-3.6.3.tar.gz>
359 o <ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/download/>
363 o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/>
367 o <http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/>
371 o <http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxquota/>
375 o <http://nwalsh.com/docbook/dsssl/>
379 o <http://cyberelk.net/tim/xmlto/>
383 o <http://www.urbanmyth.org/microcode/>
387 o <http://powertweak.sourceforge.net/>
391 o <http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev.html>
398 o <ftp://ftp.samba.org/pub/ppp/ppp-2.4.0.tar.gz>
402 o <ftp://ftp.isdn4linux.de/pub/isdn4linux/utils/isdn4k-utils.v3.1pre1.tar.gz>
406 o <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=14>
410 o <http://www.iptables.org/downloads.html>
414 o <ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/net/ip-routing/iproute2-2.2.4-now-ss991023.tar.gz>
418 o <http://oprofile.sf.net/download/>
422 o <http://nfs.sourceforge.net/>