Re: kernel & PCMCIA compilation

[bxf4@psu.edu (Brian P. Flaherty)]

Harry Palmer <harrypalmer@blueyonder.co.uk> writes:

> I'm a bit confused with how this works in Debian (in spite of the
> "we've greatly simplified this with Debian's kernel-package" etc
> etc....).

Well, I don't know how detailed I can get, but I just did this
yesterday and I was very pleased with how simple it was.  First, I was
upgrading from 2.2.19pre17 to 2.2.19 on a Gateway laptop.  I followed
some email I read on debian.security and the Debian.README in the
PCMCIA sources.  It worked as advertised (as far as I can tell).

The steps were:

- add testing source to /etc/apt/sources.list
- apt-get update
- apt-get install kernel-source
- apt-get install pcmcia-source (confirm exact name)
- untar sources in /usr/src and configure
  (according to PCMCIA-HOWTO activate networking, but none of the cards)
- after configuration, make-kpkg kernel-image (I think, but it is in
                                               the Debian README)
- then make-kpkg modules (again, check exact make target in doc)
- then install both packages via dpkg -i

I was very impressed when it booted without a hitch, the kernel and
all the modules.  So far, I have fooled around with suspending the
machine myself (apm -s) and a little with cardctl, but I haven't yet
read everything and set APM up fully (I don't think).
> 
> I don't understand how running the make-kpkg utility can second-guess
> all the pcmcia configuration options - eg. apm support, cardbus
> support, etc... Could someone kindly enlighten me? 

My very under-informed guess is that when you run configure for the
pcmcia, it asks where it should gather information, from the running
kernel or from the configuration in /usr/src/linux.  I suppose that it
gets most (if not all) of what it needs from the kernel config of the
new kernel.

> Or at least point
> me to a document that gives a real-world example of the steps to build
> new laptop kernal and pcmcia sources with debian.

Again, there is the PCMCIA-HOWTO and a Debian README in the pcmcia
source package.  Those were all I used.  HTH.

Brian Flaherty