* List: alug@stu.uea.ac.uk
On Thu, 01 Jul 1999, you wrote:
mv linux linux.old<ENTER> "rename my old linux directory which is actually a symbolic link to a directory named linux-2.2.5-15?"
If it is a symlink, there is no need to move it. It is quite common practice to use symlinks to point to current versions. Check it is a symlink with ls -l and if it is delete it (deleting the symlink will not effect the files that it points to). Then untar the source. The source will create a directory 'linux' which I would then rename - 'mv linux linux-2.2.10'. Finally remake the symlink, but this time to point to the new source tree:
ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.2.10 linux
This technique is great when you want to keep multiple versions of files or programs at hand.
tar xzf *path*/linux-2.2.10.tar.gz<ENTER> "recursively untar and ungzip a directory named linux under the current directory" cd linux<ENTER> "obvious" make config *or menuconfig/xconfig*<ENTER> "using the howto for guidance - sensible" make dep<ENTER> "dependancies?? - don't really understand this" make clean<ENTER> "cleans up the config file? - not sure"
Just removes the compiled object files (.o) and other fluff from a previous compile. Not strictly necessary after the first compile, as the source tree should be clean. The object files are a kind of half-way house stage between the source code and the final kernel. To remove the config files and make the source tree exactly as it was when you untarred it, do 'make mrproper', but this is not usually necessary.
make bzImage<ENTER> "compiles a compressed binary image - I think?"
Yup.
make modules<ENTER> "not sure got this of a newsgroup" make modules_install<ENTER> "as above could be dangerous?"
Both in /usr/src/linux/README so I reckon your OK :)
"this is where I start to get confused!"
cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz<ENTER> "copy my new compressed binary image to the path in my lilo.conf which is another symbolic link to an image file named vmlinuz-2.2.5-15 don't know if this is significant?"
lilo -v<ENTER> "run lilo in verbose mode to load it?" reboot *or shutdown -r now*<ENTER> "obvious"
I now get errors on boot up telling me that bootmap?? or something similar points to the wrong kernal version and some other errors which I can't remember (not a great deal of help that I know :-} ) lots of red text though! My screen scrolls too quickly to pick up what these errors are is there a log file somewhere?
Copying the file /usr/src/linux/System.map to /boot/System.map will probably solve the boot map problem. The most likely source of problems is with the file /etc/conf.modules. This contains information for the kernel about what modules it needs, and how to deal with them. Your fresh Red Hat install will have come with every possible module under the sun, so that it will work with just about any hardware. The program 'modprobe', which loads the modules, suddenly finds that all those modules ain't there any more, hence the errors. Make a backup of /etc/conf.modules and then see what you can fix by turning alias options off. 'man modprobe' may be of some assistance. I almost always have problems with /etc/conf.modules when I compile a new kernel.
You may find that dmesg will not show most of your errors. Try ctrl+s during boot to stop/resume the messages. Some of them may appear in /var/log/messages
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