|  | Intro | 
|  | ===== | 
|  |  | 
|  | This document is designed to provide a list of the minimum levels of | 
|  | software necessary to run the 2.6 kernels, as well as provide brief | 
|  | instructions regarding any other "Gotchas" users may encounter when | 
|  | trying life on the Bleeding Edge.  If upgrading from a pre-2.4.x | 
|  | kernel, please consult the Changes file included with 2.4.x kernels for | 
|  | additional information; most of that information will not be repeated | 
|  | here.  Basically, this document assumes that your system is already | 
|  | functional and running at least 2.4.x kernels. | 
|  |  | 
|  | This document is originally based on my "Changes" file for 2.0.x kernels | 
|  | and therefore owes credit to the same people as that file (Jared Mauch, | 
|  | Axel Boldt, Alessandro Sigala, and countless other users all over the | 
|  | 'net). | 
|  |  | 
|  | The latest revision of this document, in various formats, can always | 
|  | be found at <http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/kaboom/linux/Changes-2.4/>. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Feel free to translate this document.  If you do so, please send me a | 
|  | URL to your translation for inclusion in future revisions of this | 
|  | document. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smotrite file <http://oblom.rnc.ru/linux/kernel/Changes.ru>, yavlyaushisya | 
|  | russkim perevodom dannogo documenta. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Visite <http://www2.adi.uam.es/~ender/tecnico/> para obtener la traducción | 
|  | al español de este documento en varios formatos. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Eine deutsche Version dieser Datei finden Sie unter | 
|  | <http://www.stefan-winter.de/Changes-2.4.0.txt>. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Last updated: October 29th, 2002 | 
|  |  | 
|  | Chris Ricker (kaboom@gatech.edu or chris.ricker@genetics.utah.edu). | 
|  |  | 
|  | Current Minimal Requirements | 
|  | ============================ | 
|  |  | 
|  | Upgrade to at *least* these software revisions before thinking you've | 
|  | encountered a bug!  If you're unsure what version you're currently | 
|  | running, the suggested command should tell you. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Again, keep in mind that this list assumes you are already | 
|  | functionally running a Linux 2.4 kernel.  Also, not all tools are | 
|  | necessary on all systems; obviously, if you don't have any ISDN | 
|  | hardware, for example, you probably needn't concern yourself with | 
|  | isdn4k-utils. | 
|  |  | 
|  | o  Gnu C                  2.95.3                  # gcc --version | 
|  | o  Gnu make               3.79.1                  # make --version | 
|  | o  binutils               2.12                    # ld -v | 
|  | o  util-linux             2.10o                   # fdformat --version | 
|  | o  module-init-tools      0.9.10                  # depmod -V | 
|  | o  e2fsprogs              1.29                    # tune2fs | 
|  | o  jfsutils               1.1.3                   # fsck.jfs -V | 
|  | o  reiserfsprogs          3.6.3                   # reiserfsck -V 2>&1|grep reiserfsprogs | 
|  | o  xfsprogs               2.6.0                   # xfs_db -V | 
|  | o  pcmciautils            004 | 
|  | o  pcmcia-cs              3.1.21                  # cardmgr -V | 
|  | o  quota-tools            3.09                    # quota -V | 
|  | o  PPP                    2.4.0                   # pppd --version | 
|  | o  isdn4k-utils           3.1pre1                 # isdnctrl 2>&1|grep version | 
|  | o  nfs-utils              1.0.5                   # showmount --version | 
|  | o  procps                 3.2.0                   # ps --version | 
|  | o  oprofile               0.9                     # oprofiled --version | 
|  | o  udev                   071                     # udevinfo -V | 
|  |  | 
|  | Kernel compilation | 
|  | ================== | 
|  |  | 
|  | GCC | 
|  | --- | 
|  |  | 
|  | The gcc version requirements may vary depending on the type of CPU in your | 
|  | computer. The next paragraph applies to users of x86 CPUs, but not | 
|  | necessarily to users of other CPUs. Users of other CPUs should obtain | 
|  | information about their gcc version requirements from another source. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The recommended compiler for the kernel is gcc 2.95.x (x >= 3), and it | 
|  | should be used when you need absolute stability. You may use gcc 3.0.x | 
|  | instead if you wish, although it may cause problems. Later versions of gcc | 
|  | have not received much testing for Linux kernel compilation, and there are | 
|  | almost certainly bugs (mainly, but not exclusively, in the kernel) that | 
|  | will need to be fixed in order to use these compilers. In any case, using | 
|  | pgcc instead of plain gcc is just asking for trouble. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The Red Hat gcc 2.96 compiler subtree can also be used to build this tree. | 
|  | You should ensure you use gcc-2.96-74 or later. gcc-2.96-54 will not build | 
|  | the kernel correctly. | 
|  |  | 
|  | In addition, please pay attention to compiler optimization.  Anything | 
|  | greater than -O2 may not be wise.  Similarly, if you choose to use gcc-2.95.x | 
|  | or derivatives, be sure not to use -fstrict-aliasing (which, depending on | 
|  | your version of gcc 2.95.x, may necessitate using -fno-strict-aliasing). | 
|  |  | 
|  | Make | 
|  | ---- | 
|  |  | 
|  | You will need Gnu make 3.79.1 or later to build the kernel. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Binutils | 
|  | -------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Linux on IA-32 has recently switched from using as86 to using gas for | 
|  | assembling the 16-bit boot code, removing the need for as86 to compile | 
|  | your kernel.  This change does, however, mean that you need a recent | 
|  | release of binutils. | 
|  |  | 
|  | System utilities | 
|  | ================ | 
|  |  | 
|  | Architectural changes | 
|  | --------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | DevFS has been obsoleted in favour of udev | 
|  | (http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/) | 
|  |  | 
|  | 32-bit UID support is now in place.  Have fun! | 
|  |  | 
|  | Linux documentation for functions is transitioning to inline | 
|  | documentation via specially-formatted comments near their | 
|  | definitions in the source.  These comments can be combined with the | 
|  | SGML templates in the Documentation/DocBook directory to make DocBook | 
|  | files, which can then be converted by DocBook stylesheets to PostScript, | 
|  | HTML, PDF files, and several other formats.  In order to convert from | 
|  | DocBook format to a format of your choice, you'll need to install Jade as | 
|  | well as the desired DocBook stylesheets. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Util-linux | 
|  | ---------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | New versions of util-linux provide *fdisk support for larger disks, | 
|  | support new options to mount, recognize more supported partition | 
|  | types, have a fdformat which works with 2.4 kernels, and similar goodies. | 
|  | You'll probably want to upgrade. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Ksymoops | 
|  | -------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | If the unthinkable happens and your kernel oopses, you'll need a 2.4 | 
|  | version of ksymoops to decode the report; see REPORTING-BUGS in the | 
|  | root of the Linux source for more information. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Module-Init-Tools | 
|  | ----------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | A new module loader is now in the kernel that requires module-init-tools | 
|  | to use.  It is backward compatible with the 2.4.x series kernels. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Mkinitrd | 
|  | -------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | These changes to the /lib/modules file tree layout also require that | 
|  | mkinitrd be upgraded. | 
|  |  | 
|  | E2fsprogs | 
|  | --------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | The latest version of e2fsprogs fixes several bugs in fsck and | 
|  | debugfs.  Obviously, it's a good idea to upgrade. | 
|  |  | 
|  | JFSutils | 
|  | -------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | The jfsutils package contains the utilities for the file system. | 
|  | The following utilities are available: | 
|  | o fsck.jfs - initiate replay of the transaction log, and check | 
|  | and repair a JFS formatted partition. | 
|  | o mkfs.jfs - create a JFS formatted partition. | 
|  | o other file system utilities are also available in this package. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Reiserfsprogs | 
|  | ------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | The reiserfsprogs package should be used for reiserfs-3.6.x | 
|  | (Linux kernels 2.4.x). It is a combined package and contains working | 
|  | versions of mkreiserfs, resize_reiserfs, debugreiserfs and | 
|  | reiserfsck. These utils work on both i386 and alpha platforms. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Xfsprogs | 
|  | -------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | The latest version of xfsprogs contains mkfs.xfs, xfs_db, and the | 
|  | xfs_repair utilities, among others, for the XFS filesystem.  It is | 
|  | architecture independent and any version from 2.0.0 onward should | 
|  | work correctly with this version of the XFS kernel code (2.6.0 or | 
|  | later is recommended, due to some significant improvements). | 
|  |  | 
|  | PCMCIAutils | 
|  | ----------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | PCMCIAutils replaces pcmcia-cs (see below). It properly sets up | 
|  | PCMCIA sockets at system startup and loads the appropriate modules | 
|  | for 16-bit PCMCIA devices if the kernel is modularized and the hotplug | 
|  | subsystem is used. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Pcmcia-cs | 
|  | --------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | PCMCIA (PC Card) support is now partially implemented in the main | 
|  | kernel source. The "pcmciautils" package (see above) replaces pcmcia-cs | 
|  | for newest kernels. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Quota-tools | 
|  | ----------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Support for 32 bit uid's and gid's is required if you want to use | 
|  | the newer version 2 quota format.  Quota-tools version 3.07 and | 
|  | newer has this support.  Use the recommended version or newer | 
|  | from the table above. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Intel IA32 microcode | 
|  | -------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | A driver has been added to allow updating of Intel IA32 microcode, | 
|  | accessible as both a devfs regular file and as a normal (misc) | 
|  | character device.  If you are not using devfs you may need to: | 
|  |  | 
|  | mkdir /dev/cpu | 
|  | mknod /dev/cpu/microcode c 10 184 | 
|  | chmod 0644 /dev/cpu/microcode | 
|  |  | 
|  | as root before you can use this.  You'll probably also want to | 
|  | get the user-space microcode_ctl utility to use with this. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Powertweak | 
|  | ---------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you are running v0.1.17 or earlier, you should upgrade to | 
|  | version v0.99.0 or higher. Running old versions may cause problems | 
|  | with programs using shared memory. | 
|  |  | 
|  | udev | 
|  | ---- | 
|  | udev is a userspace application for populating /dev dynamically with | 
|  | only entries for devices actually present. udev replaces devfs. | 
|  |  | 
|  | FUSE | 
|  | ---- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Needs libfuse 2.4.0 or later.  Absolute minimum is 2.3.0 but mount | 
|  | options 'direct_io' and 'kernel_cache' won't work. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Networking | 
|  | ========== | 
|  |  | 
|  | General changes | 
|  | --------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you have advanced network configuration needs, you should probably | 
|  | consider using the network tools from ip-route2. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Packet Filter / NAT | 
|  | ------------------- | 
|  | The packet filtering and NAT code uses the same tools like the previous 2.4.x | 
|  | kernel series (iptables).  It still includes backwards-compatibility modules | 
|  | for 2.2.x-style ipchains and 2.0.x-style ipfwadm. | 
|  |  | 
|  | PPP | 
|  | --- | 
|  |  | 
|  | The PPP driver has been restructured to support multilink and to | 
|  | enable it to operate over diverse media layers.  If you use PPP, | 
|  | upgrade pppd to at least 2.4.0. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you are not using devfs, you must have the device file /dev/ppp | 
|  | which can be made by: | 
|  |  | 
|  | mknod /dev/ppp c 108 0 | 
|  |  | 
|  | as root. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you use devfsd and build ppp support as modules, you will need | 
|  | the following in your /etc/devfsd.conf file: | 
|  |  | 
|  | LOOKUP	PPP	MODLOAD | 
|  |  | 
|  | Isdn4k-utils | 
|  | ------------ | 
|  |  | 
|  | Due to changes in the length of the phone number field, isdn4k-utils | 
|  | needs to be recompiled or (preferably) upgraded. | 
|  |  | 
|  | NFS-utils | 
|  | --------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | In 2.4 and earlier kernels, the nfs server needed to know about any | 
|  | client that expected to be able to access files via NFS.  This | 
|  | information would be given to the kernel by "mountd" when the client | 
|  | mounted the filesystem, or by "exportfs" at system startup.  exportfs | 
|  | would take information about active clients from /var/lib/nfs/rmtab. | 
|  |  | 
|  | This approach is quite fragile as it depends on rmtab being correct | 
|  | which is not always easy, particularly when trying to implement | 
|  | fail-over.  Even when the system is working well, rmtab suffers from | 
|  | getting lots of old entries that never get removed. | 
|  |  | 
|  | With 2.6 we have the option of having the kernel tell mountd when it | 
|  | gets a request from an unknown host, and mountd can give appropriate | 
|  | export information to the kernel.  This removes the dependency on | 
|  | rmtab and means that the kernel only needs to know about currently | 
|  | active clients. | 
|  |  | 
|  | To enable this new functionality, you need to: | 
|  |  | 
|  | mount -t nfsd nfsd /proc/fs/nfs | 
|  |  | 
|  | before running exportfs or mountd.  It is recommended that all NFS | 
|  | services be protected from the internet-at-large by a firewall where | 
|  | that is possible. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Getting updated software | 
|  | ======================== | 
|  |  | 
|  | Kernel compilation | 
|  | ****************** | 
|  |  | 
|  | gcc 2.95.3 | 
|  | ---------- | 
|  | o  <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-2.95.3.tar.gz> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Make | 
|  | ---- | 
|  | o  <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Binutils | 
|  | -------- | 
|  | o  <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/devel/binutils/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | System utilities | 
|  | **************** | 
|  |  | 
|  | Util-linux | 
|  | ---------- | 
|  | o  <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Ksymoops | 
|  | -------- | 
|  | o  <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/v2.4/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Module-Init-Tools | 
|  | ----------------- | 
|  | o  <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/rusty/modules/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Mkinitrd | 
|  | -------- | 
|  | o  <ftp://rawhide.redhat.com/pub/rawhide/SRPMS/SRPMS/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | E2fsprogs | 
|  | --------- | 
|  | o  <http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/e2fsprogs/e2fsprogs-1.29.tar.gz> | 
|  |  | 
|  | JFSutils | 
|  | -------- | 
|  | o  <http://jfs.sourceforge.net/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Reiserfsprogs | 
|  | ------------- | 
|  | o  <http://www.namesys.com/pub/reiserfsprogs/reiserfsprogs-3.6.3.tar.gz> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Xfsprogs | 
|  | -------- | 
|  | o  <ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/download/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Pcmciautils | 
|  | ----------- | 
|  | o  <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Pcmcia-cs | 
|  | --------- | 
|  | o  <http://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Quota-tools | 
|  | ---------- | 
|  | o  <http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxquota/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | DocBook Stylesheets | 
|  | ------------------- | 
|  | o  <http://nwalsh.com/docbook/dsssl/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | XMLTO XSLT Frontend | 
|  | ------------------- | 
|  | o  <http://cyberelk.net/tim/xmlto/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Intel P6 microcode | 
|  | ------------------ | 
|  | o  <http://www.urbanmyth.org/microcode/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Powertweak | 
|  | ---------- | 
|  | o  <http://powertweak.sourceforge.net/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | udev | 
|  | ---- | 
|  | o <http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/udev.html> | 
|  |  | 
|  | FUSE | 
|  | ---- | 
|  | o <http://sourceforge.net/projects/fuse> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Networking | 
|  | ********** | 
|  |  | 
|  | PPP | 
|  | --- | 
|  | o  <ftp://ftp.samba.org/pub/ppp/ppp-2.4.0.tar.gz> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Isdn4k-utils | 
|  | ------------ | 
|  | o  <ftp://ftp.isdn4linux.de/pub/isdn4linux/utils/isdn4k-utils.v3.1pre1.tar.gz> | 
|  |  | 
|  | NFS-utils | 
|  | --------- | 
|  | o  <http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=14> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Iptables | 
|  | -------- | 
|  | o  <http://www.iptables.org/downloads.html> | 
|  |  | 
|  | Ip-route2 | 
|  | --------- | 
|  | o  <ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/net/ip-routing/iproute2-2.2.4-now-ss991023.tar.gz> | 
|  |  | 
|  | OProfile | 
|  | -------- | 
|  | o  <http://oprofile.sf.net/download/> | 
|  |  | 
|  | NFS-Utils | 
|  | --------- | 
|  | o  <http://nfs.sourceforge.net/> | 
|  |  |