Re: Question about the new kernel with PAE (Wheezy) - Report
On 2011-06-21 20:37 +0200, Camaleón wrote:
> On Tue, 21 Jun 2011 20:13:06 +0200, Sven Joachim wrote:
>
>> On 2011-06-21 19:52 +0200, Camaleón wrote:
>>
>>> Well, if you agree with the update, the pae kernel installs despite it
>>> warns about it will not work (and when you boot with it, it fails as
>>> expected). You can still boot with the old kernel (good job!).
>>>
>>> So in the end you need to manually remove the pae kernel and install
>>> the 486, as Gilbert suggested.
>>>
>>> I still think this should have been automagically done by the upgrade.
>>
>> I guess it's a bit difficult, since the package management cannot know
>> that the kernel will not work with your CPU.
>
> Well, after I chose "yes, update" it downloaded the packages and it
> presented the warning prompt, so it did know something about my processor
> specs before proceeding with the install.
That's a maintainer script of the package (probably the preinst
script). It is not feasible to do this in apt.
> But why go on? Why not "download, prepare the install, detect CPU
> capabilities, stop and ask the user to a) install 486 kernel, b) don't do
> anything or c) proceed anyway?
>
> Yes, yes, I know. I am asking for too much ;-)
Indeed. By the time the preinst script runs it is technically
impossible to do a), so b) and c) are the only options, and _you_ are
responsible for the consequences of proceeding.
> But just out of curiosity, what's the raw logic behind the routine that
> decided to install a PAE kernel instead another one? Why the installer
> took such option? :-?
It didn't. The old -686 kernels from squeeze and earlier do not support
or need PAE.
>> The alternative of downgrading to the -486 kernel for all former -686
>> users is not very attractive either, since that means losing SMP
>> support. This will certainly be mentioned in the Wheezy release notes
>> eventually.
>
> I can enable PAE/NX for the VM but never liked the PAE kernels. And only
> have one processor available so SMP on/off wouldn't be noticed, right?
Yes. Installing the -486 kernel is certainly your best option.
Sven
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