Re: reiserfs

[Micha Feigin <michf@post.tau.ac.il>]

On Wed, 2003-10-29 at 10:57, Rohan Nicholls wrote:
> At Tue, 28 Oct 2003 21:34:31 +0200,
> Micha Feigin wrote:
> > 
> > On Tue, 2003-10-28 at 17:38, Rohan Nicholls wrote:
> > > At Tue, 28 Oct 2003 00:14:01 +0200,
> > > Micha Feigin wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > On Mon, 2003-10-27 at 18:03, Rohan Nicholls wrote:
> > > > > At 27 Oct 2003 10:31:01 -0500,
> > > > > Vivek Kumar wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > You need the kernel-package package, don't remember what others
> > > > (libncurses or something like that for the graphic setup).
> > > > You then do a make xconfig/menuconfig to config the kernel (It can be
> > > > hard the first few times) and then to build the kernel (debian way):
> > > > make-kpkg --revision=<pick a personal version> kernel-image
> > > > You will then get a deb one directory up which you install using
> > > > dpkg -i kernel-image-<version>.deb
> > > > Try looking in /usr/share/doc/kernel-package/README.gz after you install
> > > > the package.
> > > 
> > > Damn, that sounds really easy, people have mentioned on the list how
> > > easy it is, and that proves it.  The linux kernel is surprisingly easy
> > > to configure and compile, which is amazing considering its complexity.
> > > 
> > > Thanks for that.
> > > 
> > > rohan
> > 
> > Compiling the kernel is easy. The hard part is configuring it the first
> > few times (untill you start understanding what the options are.)
> > It does give you a few defaults. You can also install a stock kernel and
> > copy /boot/config-<version> to .config which will give you a starting
> > point.
> > The problem is that it is a serious overkill for a non-generic kernel.
> 
> It is one of those things you decide you will take an evening to do,
> get a list of the hardware you need to support, and then go through
> for a couple of hours reading the help information for options that
> look promising.
> 
> That I think is the best advice I can give, as the biggest mistake to
> make is thinking that the first time you can just zip through and have
> it configured and compiled in an hour.
> 

Also from my experience expect to recompile a few times until you find
exactly what suits your computer.

> Points of interest, if you have an ide burner remember to include the
> ide-scsi module, and there are whole groups of things you can skip.

You will also need to compile in scsi-emulation and scsi-cdrom. Also I
would sugest not compiling ide cd-rom support in or you will run into
some headaches when the kernel recognizes you burner as ide before you
have time to mount it as scsi.

> Also, when including support for the file system your boot/root
> partitions use, it cannot be a module, but must be directly compiled
> into the kernel.  The mistake I made the first time was trying to
> compile too many things in, now that I am used to it I compile
> only what I need and anything that I don't understand that is selected
> by default ie. stuff about the type of bus I have, and other
> weirdness.  Another thing, one of the first options has to do with
> "unstable" sections, make sure you say yes to this, otherwise it hides
> all unstable modules, which in my case included my maestro3 soundcard,
> this will save you a lot of "what the ....? where is it?".:-D
> 
> Well that was probably confusing, but if not I hope it helps.
> And the /etc/modules is where you list modules that you want loaded at
> boot time, and I believe kept in memory the whole time.  Things like
> soundcards, and network cards are good things to list here, although I
> have found that even if you leave them out, the kernel will load them
> automatically. 
> 

/etc/modules are the modules loaded at startup by /etc/init.d/modutils
or /etc/init.d/module-init-tools (depends on kernel version 2.4 is the
former).
As for loaded automaticly, you to compile in kernel autoloader (the
first submenu iirc) and have a proper alias in /etc/modutils/ (most are
usually there but sound and network cards are problematic as you need to
know which module to load). If you update it you will need to run
update-modules afterwards.

> Good luck,
> 
> rohan
-- 
Micha Feigin
michf@math.tau.ac.il