| 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). | 
 |  | 
 | 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                  3.2                     # 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                     # pccardctl -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                   081                     # udevinfo -V | 
 | o  grub                   0.93                    # grub --version | 
 |  | 
 | Kernel compilation | 
 | ================== | 
 |  | 
 | GCC | 
 | --- | 
 |  | 
 | The gcc version requirements may vary depending on the type of CPU in your | 
 | computer. | 
 |  | 
 | 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 may need the | 
 | ksymoops tool to decode it, but in most cases you don't. | 
 | In the 2.6 kernel it is generally preferred to build the kernel with | 
 | CONFIG_KALLSYMS so that it produces readable dumps that can be used as-is | 
 | (this also produces better output than ksymoops). | 
 | If for some reason your kernel is not build with CONFIG_KALLSYMS and | 
 | you have no way to rebuild and reproduce the Oops with that option, then | 
 | you can still decode that Oops with ksymoops. | 
 |  | 
 | 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 a normal (misc) character device.  If you are not using | 
 | udev 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 the basic | 
 | functionality of devfs, while allowing persistent device naming for | 
 | devices. | 
 |  | 
 | 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 udev, you must have the device file /dev/ppp | 
 | which can be made by: | 
 |  | 
 | mknod /dev/ppp c 108 0 | 
 |  | 
 | as root. | 
 |  | 
 | 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/nfsd | 
 |  | 
 | 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 | 
 | --- | 
 | o  <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/> | 
 |  | 
 | 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/> | 
 |  |