Linux Debian support - Kernel customization suggestions

Author

Kernel customization suggestions

Marco De Vitis

2004-09-15, 5:45 pm

Hi,
I recently installed Debian Woody, and I'm currently using kernel 2.4.18,
which is AFAIK the most recent one officially available for Debian stable.

Now I have the following needs:

- support for Intel 845 chipset to get decent HD performance (it currently
is VERY poor, a problem I already encountered on the same machine with
Mandrakelinux 9.0);
- ACL support on ext3 filesystem;
- quota support (maybe it's already there, didn't try, actually);
- more recent 3ware RAID card drivers (not a priority, actually).

As I see it, I have three ways to satisfy those needs:

1. download the related patches for 2.4.18 and build a custom kernel;

2. download a more recent kernel from backports.org;

3. wait for the next stable to be released, which might happen soon.

What would you suggest?
Thanks.

--
Ciao,
Marco.

...."The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway", Genesis 1974

Andreas Janssen

2004-09-15, 5:45 pm

Marco De Vitis (<starless@spin.it> ) wrote:

> I recently installed Debian Woody, and I'm currently using kernel
> 2.4.18, which is AFAIK the most recent one officially available for
> Debian stable.

The recent packages have the number 2.4.18-1.

> Now I have the following needs:
>
> - support for Intel 845 chipset to get decent HD performance (it
> currently is VERY poor, a problem I already encountered on the same
> machine with Mandrakelinux 9.0);
> - ACL support on ext3 filesystem;
> - quota support (maybe it's already there, didn't try, actually);
> - more recent 3ware RAID card drivers (not a priority, actually).
>
> As I see it, I have three ways to satisfy those needs:
>
> 1. download the related patches for 2.4.18 and build a custom kernel;
>
> 2. download a more recent kernel from backports.org;
>
> 3. wait for the next stable to be released, which might happen soon.
>
> What would you suggest?

I think using a kernel from backports.org is the easiest way. I uses a
lot of packages I needed for compatibility to kernel 2.6 (although I
used a self-compiled kernel), but the packages are well-maintained and
tested. Adding the proper line to your sources.list should install or
upgrade all the packages you need. Waiting for the next stable release
can mean waiting two weeks, or two months. Or longer. No one knows.

best regards
Andreas Janssen

--
Andreas Janssen <andreas.janssen@bigfoot.com>
PGP-Key-ID: 0xDC801674 ICQ #17079270
Registered Linux User #267976
http://www.andreas-janssen.de/debian-tipps.html

Marco De Vitis

2004-09-15, 5:45 pm

Il 15/09/2004, alle ore 22:51, Andreas Janssen ha scritto:

> The recent packages have the number 2.4.18-1.

Right.
I'm actually using 2.4.18-bf2.4, which comes with installation. I know I
should switch to a CPU-optimized 2.4.18-1 kernel, but I wanted to ask
first, to avoid doing a double switch. ;)

> I think using a kernel from backports.org is the easiest way. I uses a

But is it also safe? The machine I'm talking about is in use as a file
server for a small office, I would not want to break anything.
I have very little experience with backports, but the Firefox 0.9 I
installed from there a few days ago crashes as soon as I open some prefs
pages. Not promising.

Moreover, it might even happen that the prebuilt kernel from backports.org
does not have everything I was looking for... how can I check?

I would go for building my own 2.4.18 kernel, but I'm not even sure I can
find the right patches... e.g. I can't see ACL patches for 2.4.18 on
acl.bestbits.at.

Thanks.

--
Ciao,
Marco.

...."Kid A", Radiohead 2000

Felix M. Palmen

2004-09-15, 5:45 pm

* Marco De Vitis <starless@spin.it>:
> I recently installed Debian Woody, and I'm currently using kernel 2.4.18,
> which is AFAIK the most recent one officially available for Debian stable.
>
> Now I have the following needs:
[...]
> As I see it, I have three ways to satisfy those needs:
> 1. download the related patches for 2.4.18 and build a custom kernel;
> 2. download a more recent kernel from backports.org;
> 3. wait for the next stable to be released, which might happen soon.

As for me, I always build custom kernels. Maybe you want to have a look
at the "kernel-package" debian package. It allows you to easily build
debian packages from your custom kernels, so you can use them in a clean
way. There are also some source-packages available like alsa-modules or
the nvidia graphics driver which can be built as debs using
kernel-package. Whether this is suitable for you or not depends on your
situation. On a single machine, I'd say it is.

Greets, Felix

--
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Andreas Janssen

2004-09-23, 9:30 am

Hello

Marco De Vitis (<starless@spin.it> ) wrote:
> Il 15/09/2004, alle ore 22:51, Andreas Janssen ha scritto:
>
>
> Right.
> I'm actually using 2.4.18-bf2.4, which comes with installation. I know
> I should switch to a CPU-optimized 2.4.18-1 kernel, but I wanted to
> ask first, to avoid doing a double switch. ;)

The kernel from the installation CD has /a/ /lot/ of security holes,
even if it is from a Woody r1 CD. If you want to keep on using that one
for now, use

apt-get install kernel-image-2.4.18-bf2.4

to upgrade to the latest version from security.debian.org. By the way,
IIRC, all the newer packages from security.debian.org are incompatible
to modules built for older kernels, because of some changes that
happened when the packages that fixed the ptrace bug had been released.
So if you use self-compiled modules with that kernel, be prepared to
recompile them.

>
> But is it also safe? The machine I'm talking about is in use as a file
> server for a small office, I would not want to break anything.
> I have very little experience with backports, but the Firefox 0.9 I
> installed from there a few days ago crashes as soon as I open some
> prefs pages. Not promising.

I cannot say anything about firefox, and I switched to Sarge some time
ago, so I do not use these backports anymore, but the ones I uses
always worked for me. I don't think you will have any trouble with the
latest kernel packages, at least as long as you stick with 2.4. If you
wanted to use 2.6, you would have to exchange a lot of userspace tools
as well, 2.4.2x only needs new initrd-tools as far as I know.

> Moreover, it might even happen that the prebuilt kernel from
> backports.org does not have everything I was looking for... how can I
> check?

It should have anything the vanilla kernel has. Download the package
after adding the source:

apt-get --download-only install kernel-image-2.4.2????

Next, extract the package somewhere:

mkdir ~/kernel
dpkg
-x /var/cache/apt/archives/kernel-image-2.4.?????.deb /home/marco/kernel
cd ~/kernel/boot

In that folder you will find the config file of the kernel:

grep -e ACL config-2.4.??

For my config (2.6.8.1), that shows:

CONFIG_EXT2_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
CONFIG_EXT3_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
CONFIG_REISERFS_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
CONFIG_FS_POSIX_ACL=y
CONFIG_XFS_POSIX_ACL=y

By the way, if you install the new kernel, the old one will /not/ be
removed (unless you do it yourself). You can always boot back to the
old one if the new one doesn't work properly.

best regards
Andreas Janssen

--
Andreas Janssen <andreas.janssen@bigfoot.com>
PGP-Key-ID: 0xDC801674 ICQ #17079270
Registered Linux User #267976
http://www.andreas-janssen.de/debian-tipps.html

Marco De Vitis

2004-09-23, 9:30 am

Il 16/09/2004, alle ore 10:40, Andreas Janssen ha scritto:

> ago, so I do not use these backports anymore, but the ones I uses
> always worked for me. I don't think you will have any trouble with the
> latest kernel packages, at least as long as you stick with 2.4. If you

Thanks for all the infos, I installed kernel 2.4.26 from backports on a
test machine and everything went smooth, I'll try it on the production
machine ASAP.

Now that I have working ACL support I'll open another thread for a
question about it. ;)

--
Ciao,
Marco.

...."A Passion Play", Jethro Tull 1973