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 PCMCIA (PC
48 Card) hardware, for example, you probably needn't concern yourself
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
60 o pcmcia-cs 3.1.21 # cardmgr -V
61 o quota-tools 3.09 # quota -V
62 o PPP 2.4.0 # pppd --version
63 o isdn4k-utils 3.1pre1 # isdnctrl 2>&1|grep version
64 o nfs-utils 1.0.5 # showmount --version
65 o procps 3.2.0 # ps --version
66 o oprofile 0.5.3 # oprofiled --version
74 The gcc version requirements may vary depending on the type of CPU in your
75 computer. The next paragraph applies to users of x86 CPUs, but not
76 necessarily to users of other CPUs. Users of other CPUs should obtain
77 information about their gcc version requirements from another source.
79 The recommended compiler for the kernel is gcc 2.95.x (x >= 3), and it
80 should be used when you need absolute stability. You may use gcc 3.0.x
81 instead if you wish, although it may cause problems. Later versions of gcc
82 have not received much testing for Linux kernel compilation, and there are
83 almost certainly bugs (mainly, but not exclusively, in the kernel) that
84 will need to be fixed in order to use these compilers. In any case, using
85 pgcc instead of plain gcc is just asking for trouble.
87 The Red Hat gcc 2.96 compiler subtree can also be used to build this tree.
88 You should ensure you use gcc-2.96-74 or later. gcc-2.96-54 will not build
91 In addition, please pay attention to compiler optimization. Anything
92 greater than -O2 may not be wise. Similarly, if you choose to use gcc-2.95.x
93 or derivatives, be sure not to use -fstrict-aliasing (which, depending on
94 your version of gcc 2.95.x, may necessitate using -fno-strict-aliasing).
99 You will need Gnu make 3.79.1 or later to build the kernel.
104 Linux on IA-32 has recently switched from using as86 to using gas for
105 assembling the 16-bit boot code, removing the need for as86 to compile
106 your kernel. This change does, however, mean that you need a recent
112 Architectural changes
113 ---------------------
115 DevFS has been obsoleted in favour of udev
116 (http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/)
118 32-bit UID support is now in place. Have fun!
120 Linux documentation for functions is transitioning to inline
121 documentation via specially-formatted comments near their
122 definitions in the source. These comments can be combined with the
123 SGML templates in the Documentation/DocBook directory to make DocBook
124 files, which can then be converted by DocBook stylesheets to PostScript,
125 HTML, PDF files, and several other formats. In order to convert from
126 DocBook format to a format of your choice, you'll need to install Jade as
127 well as the desired DocBook stylesheets.
132 New versions of util-linux provide *fdisk support for larger disks,
133 support new options to mount, recognize more supported partition
134 types, have a fdformat which works with 2.4 kernels, and similar goodies.
135 You'll probably want to upgrade.
140 If the unthinkable happens and your kernel oopses, you'll need a 2.4
141 version of ksymoops to decode the report; see REPORTING-BUGS in the
142 root of the Linux source for more information.
147 A new module loader is now in the kernel that requires module-init-tools
148 to use. It is backward compatible with the 2.4.x series kernels.
153 These changes to the /lib/modules file tree layout also require that
154 mkinitrd be upgraded.
159 The latest version of e2fsprogs fixes several bugs in fsck and
160 debugfs. Obviously, it's a good idea to upgrade.
165 The jfsutils package contains the utilities for the file system.
166 The following utilities are available:
167 o fsck.jfs - initiate replay of the transaction log, and check
168 and repair a JFS formatted partition.
169 o mkfs.jfs - create a JFS formatted partition.
170 o other file system utilities are also available in this package.
175 The reiserfsprogs package should be used for reiserfs-3.6.x
176 (Linux kernels 2.4.x). It is a combined package and contains working
177 versions of mkreiserfs, resize_reiserfs, debugreiserfs and
178 reiserfsck. These utils work on both i386 and alpha platforms.
183 The latest version of xfsprogs contains mkfs.xfs, xfs_db, and the
184 xfs_repair utilities, among others, for the XFS filesystem. It is
185 architecture independent and any version from 2.0.0 onward should
186 work correctly with this version of the XFS kernel code (2.6.0 or
187 later is recommended, due to some significant improvements).
193 PCMCIA (PC Card) support is now partially implemented in the main
194 kernel source. Pay attention when you recompile your kernel ;-).
195 Also, be sure to upgrade to the latest pcmcia-cs release.
200 Support for 32 bit uid's and gid's is required if you want to use
201 the newer version 2 quota format. Quota-tools version 3.07 and
202 newer has this support. Use the recommended version or newer
203 from the table above.
208 A driver has been added to allow updating of Intel IA32 microcode,
209 accessible as both a devfs regular file and as a normal (misc)
210 character device. If you are not using devfs you may need to:
213 mknod /dev/cpu/microcode c 10 184
214 chmod 0644 /dev/cpu/microcode
216 as root before you can use this. You'll probably also want to
217 get the user-space microcode_ctl utility to use with this.
222 If you are running v0.1.17 or earlier, you should upgrade to
223 version v0.99.0 or higher. Running old versions may cause problems
224 with programs using shared memory.
228 udev is a userspace application for populating /dev dynamically with
229 only entries for devices actually present. udev replaces devfs.
237 If you have advanced network configuration needs, you should probably
238 consider using the network tools from ip-route2.
242 The packet filtering and NAT code uses the same tools like the previous 2.4.x
243 kernel series (iptables). It still includes backwards-compatibility modules
244 for 2.2.x-style ipchains and 2.0.x-style ipfwadm.
249 The PPP driver has been restructured to support multilink and to
250 enable it to operate over diverse media layers. If you use PPP,
251 upgrade pppd to at least 2.4.0.
253 If you are not using devfs, you must have the device file /dev/ppp
254 which can be made by:
256 mknod /dev/ppp c 108 0
260 If you use devfsd and build ppp support as modules, you will need
261 the following in your /etc/devfsd.conf file:
268 Due to changes in the length of the phone number field, isdn4k-utils
269 needs to be recompiled or (preferably) upgraded.
274 In 2.4 and earlier kernels, the nfs server needed to know about any
275 client that expected to be able to access files via NFS. This
276 information would be given to the kernel by "mountd" when the client
277 mounted the filesystem, or by "exportfs" at system startup. exportfs
278 would take information about active clients from /var/lib/nfs/rmtab.
280 This approach is quite fragile as it depends on rmtab being correct
281 which is not always easy, particularly when trying to implement
282 fail-over. Even when the system is working well, rmtab suffers from
283 getting lots of old entries that never get removed.
285 With 2.6 we have the option of having the kernel tell mountd when it
286 gets a request from an unknown host, and mountd can give appropriate
287 export information to the kernel. This removes the dependency on
288 rmtab and means that the kernel only needs to know about currently
291 To enable this new functionality, you need to:
293 mount -t nfsd nfsd /proc/fs/nfs
295 before running exportfs or mountd. It is recommended that all NFS
296 services be protected from the internet-at-large by a firewall where
299 Getting updated software
300 ========================
307 o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-2.95.3.tar.gz>
311 o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/>
315 o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/devel/binutils/>
322 o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>
326 o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/v2.4/>
330 o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/rusty/modules/>
334 o <ftp://rawhide.redhat.com/pub/rawhide/SRPMS/SRPMS/>
338 o <http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/e2fsprogs/e2fsprogs-1.29.tar.gz>
342 o <http://jfs.sourceforge.net/>
346 o <http://www.namesys.com/pub/reiserfsprogs/reiserfsprogs-3.6.3.tar.gz>
350 o <ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/download/>
354 o <ftp://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/pub/pcmcia-cs/pcmcia-cs-3.1.21.tar.gz>
358 o <http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxquota/>
362 o <http://nwalsh.com/docbook/dsssl/>
366 o <http://cyberelk.net/tim/xmlto/>
370 o <http://www.urbanmyth.org/microcode/>
374 o <http://powertweak.sourceforge.net/>
378 o <http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev.html>
385 o <ftp://ftp.samba.org/pub/ppp/ppp-2.4.0.tar.gz>
389 o <ftp://ftp.isdn4linux.de/pub/isdn4linux/utils/isdn4k-utils.v3.1pre1.tar.gz>
393 o <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=14>
397 o <http://www.iptables.org/downloads.html>
401 o <ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/net/ip-routing/iproute2-2.2.4-now-ss991023.tar.gz>
405 o <http://oprofile.sf.net/download/>
409 o <http://nfs.sourceforge.net/>