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linux
1Intro
2=====
3
4This document is designed to provide a list of the minimum levels of
5software necessary to run the 2.6 kernels, as well as provide brief
6instructions regarding any other "Gotchas" users may encounter when
7trying life on the Bleeding Edge. If upgrading from a pre-2.4.x
8kernel, please consult the Changes file included with 2.4.x kernels for
9additional information; most of that information will not be repeated
10here. Basically, this document assumes that your system is already
11functional and running at least 2.4.x kernels.
12
13This document is originally based on my "Changes" file for 2.0.x kernels
14and therefore owes credit to the same people as that file (Jared Mauch,
15Axel Boldt, Alessandro Sigala, and countless other users all over the
16'net).
17
18Current Minimal Requirements
19============================
20
21Upgrade to at *least* these software revisions before thinking you've
22encountered a bug! If you're unsure what version you're currently
23running, the suggested command should tell you.
24
25Again, keep in mind that this list assumes you are already
26functionally running a Linux 2.4 kernel. Also, not all tools are
27necessary on all systems; obviously, if you don't have any ISDN
28hardware, for example, you probably needn't concern yourself with
29isdn4k-utils.
30
31o Gnu C 3.2 # gcc --version
32o Gnu make 3.79.1 # make --version
33o binutils 2.12 # ld -v
34o util-linux 2.10o # fdformat --version
35o module-init-tools 0.9.10 # depmod -V
36o e2fsprogs 1.29 # tune2fs
37o jfsutils 1.1.3 # fsck.jfs -V
38o reiserfsprogs 3.6.3 # reiserfsck -V 2>&1|grep reiserfsprogs
39o xfsprogs 2.6.0 # xfs_db -V
40o pcmciautils 004
41o pcmcia-cs 3.1.21 # cardmgr -V
42o quota-tools 3.09 # quota -V
43o PPP 2.4.0 # pppd --version
44o isdn4k-utils 3.1pre1 # isdnctrl 2>&1|grep version
45o nfs-utils 1.0.5 # showmount --version
46o procps 3.2.0 # ps --version
47o oprofile 0.9 # oprofiled --version
48o udev 071 # udevinfo -V
49
50Kernel compilation
51==================
52
53GCC
54---
55
56The gcc version requirements may vary depending on the type of CPU in your
57computer.
58
59Make
60----
61
62You will need Gnu make 3.79.1 or later to build the kernel.
63
64Binutils
65--------
66
67Linux on IA-32 has recently switched from using as86 to using gas for
68assembling the 16-bit boot code, removing the need for as86 to compile
69your kernel. This change does, however, mean that you need a recent
70release of binutils.
71
72System utilities
73================
74
75Architectural changes
76---------------------
77
78DevFS has been obsoleted in favour of udev
79(http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/)
80
8132-bit UID support is now in place. Have fun!
82
83Linux documentation for functions is transitioning to inline
84documentation via specially-formatted comments near their
85definitions in the source. These comments can be combined with the
86SGML templates in the Documentation/DocBook directory to make DocBook
87files, which can then be converted by DocBook stylesheets to PostScript,
88HTML, PDF files, and several other formats. In order to convert from
89DocBook format to a format of your choice, you'll need to install Jade as
90well as the desired DocBook stylesheets.
91
92Util-linux
93----------
94
95New versions of util-linux provide *fdisk support for larger disks,
96support new options to mount, recognize more supported partition
97types, have a fdformat which works with 2.4 kernels, and similar goodies.
98You'll probably want to upgrade.
99
100Ksymoops
101--------
102
103If the unthinkable happens and your kernel oopses, you may need the
104ksymoops tool to decode it, but in most cases you don't.
105In the 2.6 kernel it is generally preferred to build the kernel with
106CONFIG_KALLSYMS so that it produces readable dumps that can be used as-is
107(this also produces better output than ksymoops).
108If for some reason your kernel is not build with CONFIG_KALLSYMS and
109you have no way to rebuild and reproduce the Oops with that option, then
110you can still decode that Oops with ksymoops.
111
112Module-Init-Tools
113-----------------
114
115A new module loader is now in the kernel that requires module-init-tools
116to use. It is backward compatible with the 2.4.x series kernels.
117
118Mkinitrd
119--------
120
121These changes to the /lib/modules file tree layout also require that
122mkinitrd be upgraded.
123
124E2fsprogs
125---------
126
127The latest version of e2fsprogs fixes several bugs in fsck and
128debugfs. Obviously, it's a good idea to upgrade.
129
130JFSutils
131--------
132
133The jfsutils package contains the utilities for the file system.
134The following utilities are available:
135o fsck.jfs - initiate replay of the transaction log, and check
136 and repair a JFS formatted partition.
137o mkfs.jfs - create a JFS formatted partition.
138o other file system utilities are also available in this package.
139
140Reiserfsprogs
141-------------
142
143The reiserfsprogs package should be used for reiserfs-3.6.x
144(Linux kernels 2.4.x). It is a combined package and contains working
145versions of mkreiserfs, resize_reiserfs, debugreiserfs and
146reiserfsck. These utils work on both i386 and alpha platforms.
147
148Xfsprogs
149--------
150
151The latest version of xfsprogs contains mkfs.xfs, xfs_db, and the
152xfs_repair utilities, among others, for the XFS filesystem. It is
153architecture independent and any version from 2.0.0 onward should
154work correctly with this version of the XFS kernel code (2.6.0 or
155later is recommended, due to some significant improvements).
156
157PCMCIAutils
158-----------
159
160PCMCIAutils replaces pcmcia-cs (see below). It properly sets up
161PCMCIA sockets at system startup and loads the appropriate modules
162for 16-bit PCMCIA devices if the kernel is modularized and the hotplug
163subsystem is used.
164
165Pcmcia-cs
166---------
167
168PCMCIA (PC Card) support is now partially implemented in the main
169kernel source. The "pcmciautils" package (see above) replaces pcmcia-cs
170for newest kernels.
171
172Quota-tools
173-----------
174
175Support for 32 bit uid's and gid's is required if you want to use
176the newer version 2 quota format. Quota-tools version 3.07 and
177newer has this support. Use the recommended version or newer
178from the table above.
179
180Intel IA32 microcode
181--------------------
182
183A driver has been added to allow updating of Intel IA32 microcode,
184accessible as both a devfs regular file and as a normal (misc)
185character device. If you are not using devfs you may need to:
186
187mkdir /dev/cpu
188mknod /dev/cpu/microcode c 10 184
189chmod 0644 /dev/cpu/microcode
190
191as root before you can use this. You'll probably also want to
192get the user-space microcode_ctl utility to use with this.
193
194Powertweak
195----------
196
197If you are running v0.1.17 or earlier, you should upgrade to
198version v0.99.0 or higher. Running old versions may cause problems
199with programs using shared memory.
200
201udev
202----
203udev is a userspace application for populating /dev dynamically with
204only entries for devices actually present. udev replaces devfs.
205
206FUSE
207----
208
209Needs libfuse 2.4.0 or later. Absolute minimum is 2.3.0 but mount
210options 'direct_io' and 'kernel_cache' won't work.
211
212Networking
213==========
214
215General changes
216---------------
217
218If you have advanced network configuration needs, you should probably
219consider using the network tools from ip-route2.
220
221Packet Filter / NAT
222-------------------
223The packet filtering and NAT code uses the same tools like the previous 2.4.x
224kernel series (iptables). It still includes backwards-compatibility modules
225for 2.2.x-style ipchains and 2.0.x-style ipfwadm.
226
227PPP
228---
229
230The PPP driver has been restructured to support multilink and to
231enable it to operate over diverse media layers. If you use PPP,
232upgrade pppd to at least 2.4.0.
233
234If you are not using devfs, you must have the device file /dev/ppp
235which can be made by:
236
237mknod /dev/ppp c 108 0
238
239as root.
240
241If you use devfsd and build ppp support as modules, you will need
242the following in your /etc/devfsd.conf file:
243
244LOOKUP PPP MODLOAD
245
246Isdn4k-utils
247------------
248
249Due to changes in the length of the phone number field, isdn4k-utils
250needs to be recompiled or (preferably) upgraded.
251
252NFS-utils
253---------
254
255In 2.4 and earlier kernels, the nfs server needed to know about any
256client that expected to be able to access files via NFS. This
257information would be given to the kernel by "mountd" when the client
258mounted the filesystem, or by "exportfs" at system startup. exportfs
259would take information about active clients from /var/lib/nfs/rmtab.
260
261This approach is quite fragile as it depends on rmtab being correct
262which is not always easy, particularly when trying to implement
263fail-over. Even when the system is working well, rmtab suffers from
264getting lots of old entries that never get removed.
265
266With 2.6 we have the option of having the kernel tell mountd when it
267gets a request from an unknown host, and mountd can give appropriate
268export information to the kernel. This removes the dependency on
269rmtab and means that the kernel only needs to know about currently
270active clients.
271
272To enable this new functionality, you need to:
273
274 mount -t nfsd nfsd /proc/fs/nfs
275
276before running exportfs or mountd. It is recommended that all NFS
277services be protected from the internet-at-large by a firewall where
278that is possible.
279
280Getting updated software
281========================
282
283Kernel compilation
284******************
285
286gcc
287---
288o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/>
289
290Make
291----
292o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/>
293
294Binutils
295--------
296o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/devel/binutils/>
297
298System utilities
299****************
300
301Util-linux
302----------
303o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>
304
305Ksymoops
306--------
307o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/v2.4/>
308
309Module-Init-Tools
310-----------------
311o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/rusty/modules/>
312
313Mkinitrd
314--------
315o <ftp://rawhide.redhat.com/pub/rawhide/SRPMS/SRPMS/>
316
317E2fsprogs
318---------
319o <http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/e2fsprogs/e2fsprogs-1.29.tar.gz>
320
321JFSutils
322--------
323o <http://jfs.sourceforge.net/>
324
325Reiserfsprogs
326-------------
327o <http://www.namesys.com/pub/reiserfsprogs/reiserfsprogs-3.6.3.tar.gz>
328
329Xfsprogs
330--------
331o <ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/download/>
332
333Pcmciautils
334-----------
335o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/>
336
337Pcmcia-cs
338---------
339o <http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/>
340
341Quota-tools
342----------
343o <http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxquota/>
344
345DocBook Stylesheets
346-------------------
347o <http://nwalsh.com/docbook/dsssl/>
348
349XMLTO XSLT Frontend
350-------------------
351o <http://cyberelk.net/tim/xmlto/>
352
353Intel P6 microcode
354------------------
355o <http://www.urbanmyth.org/microcode/>
356
357Powertweak
358----------
359o <http://powertweak.sourceforge.net/>
360
361udev
362----
363o <http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev.html>
364
365FUSE
366----
367o <http://sourceforge.net/projects/fuse>
368
369Networking
370**********
371
372PPP
373---
374o <ftp://ftp.samba.org/pub/ppp/ppp-2.4.0.tar.gz>
375
376Isdn4k-utils
377------------
378o <ftp://ftp.isdn4linux.de/pub/isdn4linux/utils/isdn4k-utils.v3.1pre1.tar.gz>
379
380NFS-utils
381---------
382o <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=14>
383
384Iptables
385--------
386o <http://www.iptables.org/downloads.html>
387
388Ip-route2
389---------
390o <ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/net/ip-routing/iproute2-2.2.4-now-ss991023.tar.gz>
391
392OProfile
393--------
394o <http://oprofile.sf.net/download/>
395
396NFS-Utils
397---------
398o <http://nfs.sourceforge.net/>
399