Re: Mac-On-Linux - elf32_getehdr failed

["C.M. Connelly" <c@eskimo.com>]

"KW" == Kent West <westk@nicanor.acu.edu> writes:

   KW> Thanks! That's a lot of good info. Do you reckon I'd be
   KW> better off going to 2.2.17 now, or is 2.2.16 acceptable
   KW> enough to keep using it? 

Alan said (in his diary, <http://www.linux.org.uk/diary/>)

   June 11th 

   Built and released 2.2.17pre1, the 2.2.16 errata, Linux
   2.4.0-test1-ac14 and Linux 2.4.0-test1-ac15.  Kind of a busy
   day.  The errata btw fix the Bugtraq lockd hang if anyone has their
   lockd port publically available.  The TCP bug is also worth having
   the fix for.  This is a 'get the errata' hint.  If you have a
   sparc or want 16bit character corrections then get 2.2.17pre1
   instead.

so at the least I think you'd want to apply the errata patch and
rebuild your kernel.  The patch is available from
<http://www.linux.org.uk/VERSION/2.2.16combo>.  It fixes

   * lockd tcp connect hang problem reported on bugtraq 
   * Problems with md software raid 
   * The FIN foodfight problem with irix (one bug ours one irix) 
   * A debugging printk on the Alpha 
   * 2.2.16 did not do audio with some cdroms 
   * I2O scsi crashed on boot if non modular 
   * Yamaha PCI audio only builds modular 
   * ES1371 revision 8 cards did not work 
   * Initio scsi cards crashed on unload/reload 


   KW> I'd jump to 2.2.17, but I hate going through the configure
   KW> process since there's so many options that I just don't
   KW> know about. I know I'll reconfigure sometime fairly soon,
   KW> but I'd just as soon not do so for a couple of weeks if
   KW> 2.2.16 is acceptable enough to last that long.

2.2.16 plus the errata patch is probably safe enough.  On June 22,
Alan said ``Put out Linux 2.2.17pre6.  This should fix the Adaptec
problems but there are still a few other loose ends to tie up,
especially on the PPC side.''

Probably your best bet is to leave things at their default values
if you don't know what they're for.  Another good bet is to get
someone else's working configuration and use that as a base for
your own (there have been a couple posted to debian-ppc; check the
mailing list archives).  

I usually back up my .config file (in /usr/src/linux) to some
meaningful name (such as /usr/src/linux-2.2.17p5-config), then
copy it back to /usr/src/linux/.config after unpatching,
repatching, and doing a `make mrproper' (which, among other
things, wipes the existing .config file).  Then I do a `make
oldconfig', which uses my .config file as the base and scans
through looking for new stuff to ask me about, almost none of
which are ever things I want.  Once that's done, I might do a
`make menuconfig' to make sure things look right, and then do
`make dep' and `make vmlinux' (followed by `make modules').

I usually have several different kernels available to boot from,
so if I have a problem, I can fall back to a known working kernel.

I hope that we'll see some improvements in the way that the kernel
configuration process works with Eric Raymond's CML2 stuff --
one of the easiest mistakes to make when compiling kernels for
PowerMacs, at least, is to include support for PC equivalents of
PowerMac hardware (especially serial ports, though also mice,
parallel ports, and some other stuff) that you shouldn't even be
able to see, let alone select.

   CMC

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   C.M. Connelly               c@eskimo.com                   SHC, DS
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