1Intro 2===== 3 4This document is designed to provide a list of the minimum levels of 5software necessary to run the 2.4 kernels, as well as provide brief 6instructions regarding any other "Gotchas" users may encounter when 7trying life on the Bleeding Edge. If upgrading from a pre-2.2.x 8kernel, please consult the Changes file included with 2.2.x kernels for 9additional information; most of that information will not be repeated 10here. Basically, this document assumes that your system is already 11functional and running at least 2.2.x kernels. 12 13This document is originally based on my "Changes" file for 2.0.x kernels 14and therefore owes credit to the same people as that file (Jared Mauch, 15Axel Boldt, Alessandro Sigala, and countless other users all over the 16'net). 17 18The latest revision of this document, in various formats, can always 19be found at <http://cyberbuzz.gatech.edu/kaboom/linux/Changes-2.4/>. 20 21Feel free to translate this document. If you do so, please send me a 22URL to your translation for inclusion in future revisions of this 23document. 24 25Smotrite file <http://oblom.rnc.ru/linux/kernel/Changes.ru>, yavlyaushisya 26russkim perevodom dannogo documenta. 27 28Visite <http://www2.adi.uam.es/~ender/tecnico/> para obtener la traducci�n 29al espa�ol de este documento en varios formatos. 30 31Eine deutsche Version dieser Datei finden Sie unter 32<http://www.stefan-winter.de/Changes-2.4.0.txt>. 33 34Last updated: February 13, 2002 35 36Chris Ricker (kaboom@gatech.edu or chris.ricker@genetics.utah.edu). 37 38Current Minimal Requirements 39============================ 40 41Upgrade to at *least* these software revisions before thinking you've 42encountered a bug! If you're unsure what version you're currently 43running, the suggested command should tell you. 44 45Again, keep in mind that this list assumes you are already 46functionally running a Linux 2.2 kernel. Also, not all tools are 47necessary on all systems; obviously, if you don't have any PCMCIA (PC 48Card) hardware, for example, you probably needn't concern yourself 49with pcmcia-cs. 50 51o Gnu C 2.95.3 # gcc --version 52o Gnu make 3.77 # make --version 53o binutils 2.9.1.0.25 # ld -v 54o util-linux 2.10o # fdformat --version 55o modutils 2.4.14 # insmod -V 56o e2fsprogs 1.25 # tune2fs 57o jfsutils 1.0.12 # fsck.jfs -V 58o reiserfsprogs 3.6.3 # reiserfsck -V 2>&1|grep reiserfsprogs 59o xfsprogs 2.6.0 # xfs_db -V 60o pcmcia-cs 3.1.21 # cardmgr -V 61o quota-tools 3.09 # quota -V 62o PPP 2.4.0 # pppd --version 63o isdn4k-utils 3.1pre1 # isdnctrl 2>&1|grep version 64 65Kernel compilation 66================== 67 68GCC 69--- 70 71The gcc version requirements may vary depending on the type of CPU in your 72computer. The next paragraph applies to users of x86 CPUs, but not 73necessarily to users of other CPUs. Users of other CPUs should obtain 74information about their gcc version requirements from another source. 75 76The recommended compiler for the kernel is gcc 2.95.x (x >= 3), and it 77should be used when you need absolute stability. You may use gcc 3.0.x 78instead if you wish, although it may cause problems. Later versions of gcc 79have not received much testing for Linux kernel compilation, and there are 80almost certainly bugs (mainly, but not exclusively, in the kernel) that 81will need to be fixed in order to use these compilers. In any case, using 82pgcc instead of egcs or plain gcc is just asking for trouble. 83 84Note that gcc 2.7.2.3 is no longer a supported kernel compiler. The kernel 85no longer works around bugs in gcc 2.7.2.3 and, in fact, will refuse to 86be compiled with it. egcs-1.1.2 has register allocation problems in very 87obscure cases. We have ensured the kernel does not trip these in any known 88situation. The 2.5 tree is likely to drop egcs-1.1.2 workarounds. 89 90The Red Hat gcc 2.96 compiler subtree can also be used to build this tree. 91You should ensure you use gcc-2.96-74 or later. gcc-2.96-54 will not build 92the kernel correctly. 93 94gcc 3.3 and 3.4 are both known to work well. gcc 4.0 and 4.1 also work on 95a several architectures (i386, x86_64, ppc, sparc, sparc64, alpha). Other 96archs will not work. Versions 4.2 and onwards are not supported anymore. 97Supporting them would require massive in-depth changes which will add a 98lot of bugs and might break older compilers. If you don't have any gcc 99below 4.2, check Documentation/using-newer-gcc.txt for instructions. 100 101In addition, please pay attention to compiler optimization. Anything 102greater than -O2 may not be wise. Similarly, if you choose to use gcc-2.95.x 103or derivatives, be sure not to use -fstrict-aliasing (which, depending on 104your version of gcc 2.95.x, may necessitate using -fno-strict-aliasing). 105 106Make 107---- 108 109You will need Gnu make 3.77 or later to build the kernel. 110 111Binutils 112-------- 113 114Linux on IA-32 has recently switched from using as86 to using gas for 115assembling the 16-bit boot code, removing the need for as86 to compile 116your kernel. This change does, however, mean that you need a recent 117release of binutils. 118 119If you can, upgrade to the latest 2.9.5 or 2.1x binutils release. Older 120releases such as 2.8, 2.8.xx, and the FSF's 2.9.1 should be avoided if 121at all possible. The later releases of 2.9.1.0.x (anything where x >= 22) 122can and do compile the kernel properly, but there are many benefits in 123upgrading to 2.9.5 or 2.1x if you're up to it. 124 125System utilities 126================ 127 128Architectural changes 129--------------------- 130 131DevFS is now in the kernel. See Documentation/filesystems/devfs/* in 132the kernel source tree for all the gory details. 133 134The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) is now in the kernel. If you want to 135use this, you'll need to install the necessary LVM toolset. 136 13732-bit UID support is now in place. Have fun! 138 139Linux documentation for functions is transitioning to inline 140documentation via specially-formatted comments near their 141definitions in the source. These comments can be combined with the 142SGML templates in the Documentation/DocBook directory to make DocBook 143files, which can then be converted by DocBook stylesheets to PostScript, 144HTML, PDF files, and several other formats. In order to convert from 145DocBook format to a format of your choice, you'll need to install Jade as 146well as the desired DocBook stylesheets. 147 148Util-linux 149---------- 150 151New versions of util-linux provide *fdisk support for larger disks, 152support new options to mount, recognize more supported partition 153types, have a fdformat which works with 2.4 kernels, and similar goodies. 154You'll probably want to upgrade. 155 156Ksymoops 157-------- 158 159If the unthinkable happens and your kernel oopses, you'll need a 2.4 160version of ksymoops to decode the report; see REPORTING-BUGS in the 161root of the Linux source for more information. 162 163Modutils 164-------- 165 166Upgrade to recent modutils to fix various outstanding bugs which are 167seen more frequently under 2.4.x, and to enable auto-loading of USB 168modules. In addition, the layout of modules under 169/lib/modules/`uname -r`/ has been made more sane, and EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL 170also requires that you upgrade to a recent modutils. 171 172Mkinitrd 173-------- 174 175These changes to the /lib/modules file tree layout also require that 176mkinitrd be upgraded. 177 178E2fsprogs 179--------- 180 181The latest version of e2fsprogs fixes several bugs in fsck and 182debugfs. Obviously, it's a good idea to upgrade. 183 184JFSutils 185-------- 186 187The jfsutils package contains the utilities for the file system. 188The following utilities are available: 189o fsck.jfs - initiate replay of the transaction log, and check 190 and repair a JFS formatted partition. 191o mkfs.jfs - create a JFS formatted partition. 192o other file system utilities are also available in this package. 193 194Reiserfsprogs 195------------- 196 197The reiserfsprogs package should be used for reiserfs-3.6.x 198(Linux kernels 2.4.x). It is a combined package and contains working 199versions of mkreiserfs, resize_reiserfs, debugreiserfs and 200reiserfsck. These utils work on both i386 and alpha platforms. 201 202Xfsprogs 203-------- 204 205The latest version of xfsprogs contains mkfs.xfs, xfs_db, and the 206xfs_repair utilities, among others, for the XFS filesystem. It is 207architecture independent and any version from 2.0.0 onward should 208work correctly with this version of the XFS kernel code (2.6.0 or 209later is recommended, due to some significant improvements). 210 211 212Pcmcia-cs 213--------- 214 215PCMCIA (PC Card) support is now partially implemented in the main 216kernel source. Pay attention when you recompile your kernel ;-). 217Also, be sure to upgrade to the latest pcmcia-cs release. 218 219Quota-tools 220----------- 221 222Support for 32 bit uid's and gid's is required if you want to use 223the newer version 2 quota format. Quota-tools version 3.07 and 224newer has this support. Use the recommended version or newer 225from the table above. 226 227Intel IA32 microcode 228-------------------- 229 230A driver has been added to allow updating of Intel IA32 microcode, 231accessible as both a devfs regular file and as a normal (misc) 232character device. If you are not using devfs you may need to: 233 234mkdir /dev/cpu 235mknod /dev/cpu/microcode c 10 184 236chmod 0644 /dev/cpu/microcode 237 238as root before you can use this. You'll probably also want to 239get the user-space microcode_ctl utility to use with this. 240 241If you have compiled the driver as a module you may need to add 242the following line: 243 244alias char-major-10-184 microcode 245 246to your /etc/modules.conf file. 247 248Powertweak 249---------- 250 251If you are running v0.1.17 or earlier, you should upgrade to 252version v0.99.0 or higher. Running old versions may cause problems 253with programs using shared memory. 254 255Networking 256========== 257 258General changes 259--------------- 260 261The IP firewalling and NAT code has been replaced again. The new 262netfilter software (including ipfwadm and ipchains backwards- 263compatible modules) is currently distributed separately. 264 265If you have advanced network configuration needs, you should probably 266consider using the network tools from ip-route2. 267 268PPP 269--- 270 271The PPP driver has been restructured to support multilink and to 272enable it to operate over diverse media layers. If you use PPP, 273upgrade pppd to at least 2.4.0. 274 275If you are not using devfs, you must have the device file /dev/ppp 276which can be made by: 277 278mknod /dev/ppp c 108 0 279 280as root. 281 282If you build ppp support as modules, you will need the following in 283your /etc/modules.conf file: 284 285alias char-major-108 ppp_generic 286alias /dev/ppp ppp_generic 287alias tty-ldisc-3 ppp_async 288alias tty-ldisc-14 ppp_synctty 289alias ppp-compress-21 bsd_comp 290alias ppp-compress-24 ppp_deflate 291alias ppp-compress-26 ppp_deflate 292 293If you use devfsd and build ppp support as modules, you will need 294the following in your /etc/devfsd.conf file: 295 296LOOKUP PPP MODLOAD 297 298Isdn4k-utils 299------------ 300 301Due to changes in the length of the phone number field, isdn4k-utils 302needs to be recompiled or (preferably) upgraded. 303 304Getting updated software 305======================== 306 307Kernel compilation 308****************** 309 310egcs 1.1.2 (gcc 2.91.66) 311------------------------ 312o <ftp://sourceware.cygnus.com/pub/gcc/releases/egcs-1.1.2/egcs-1.1.2.tar.bz2> 313 314gcc 2.95.3 315---------- 316o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/gcc-2.95.3.tar.gz> 317 318Make 3.77 319--------- 320o <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/make-3.77.tar.gz> 321 322Binutils 323-------- 324o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/devel/binutils/> 325 326System utilities 327**************** 328 329Util-linux 330---------- 331o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/> 332 333Ksymoops 334-------- 335o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/v2.4/> 336 337Modutils 338-------- 339o <ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/modutils/v2.4/> 340 341Mkinitrd 342-------- 343o <ftp://rawhide.redhat.com/pub/rawhide/SRPMS/SRPMS/> 344 345E2fsprogs 346--------- 347o <http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/e2fsprogs/e2fsprogs-1.25.tar.gz> 348 349JFSutils 350--------- 351o <http://jfs.sourceforge.net/> 352 353Reiserfsprogs 354------------- 355o <http://www.namesys.com/pub/reiserfsprogs/reiserfsprogs-3.6.3.tar.gz> 356 357Xfsprogs 358-------- 359o <ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/download/> 360 361LVM toolset 362----------- 363o <http://www.sistina.com/lvm/> 364 365Pcmcia-cs 366--------- 367o <ftp://pcmcia-cs.sourceforge.net/pub/pcmcia-cs/pcmcia-cs-3.1.21.tar.gz> 368 369Quota-tools 370---------- 371o <http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxquota/> 372 373Jade 374---- 375o <ftp://ftp.jclark.com/pub/jade/jade-1.2.1.tar.gz> 376 377DocBook Stylesheets 378------------------- 379o <http://nwalsh.com/docbook/dsssl/> 380 381Intel P6 microcode 382------------------ 383o <http://www.urbanmyth.org/microcode/> 384 385Powertweak 386---------- 387o <http://powertweak.sourceforge.net/> 388 389Networking 390********** 391 392PPP 393--- 394o <ftp://ftp.samba.org/pub/ppp/ppp-2.4.0.tar.gz> 395 396Isdn4k-utils 397------------ 398o <ftp://ftp.isdn4linux.de/pub/isdn4linux/utils/isdn4k-utils.v3.1pre1.tar.gz> 399 400Netfilter 401--------- 402o <http://netfilter.filewatcher.org/iptables-1.2.tar.bz2> 403o <http://netfilter.samba.org/iptables-1.2.tar.bz2> 404o <http://netfilter.kernelnotes.org/iptables-1.2.tar.bz2> 405 406Ip-route2 407--------- 408o <ftp://ftp.inr.ac.ru/ip-routing/iproute2-2.2.4-now-ss991023.tar.gz> 409 410Suggestions and corrections 411=========================== 412 413Please feel free to submit changes, corrections, gripes, flames, 414money, etc. to me <chris.ricker@genetics.utah.edu>. Happy Linuxing! 415