[98171] in RedHat Linux List
Re: Kernel
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (William Stearns)
Sat Nov 7 01:59:23 1998
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1998 02:02:11 -0500 (EST)
From: William Stearns <wstearns@pobox.com>
To: "Kevin A. Pieckiel" <kapieckiel@Harding.edu>
cc: Red Hat Mailing List <redhat-list@redhat.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SO4.4.02.9811061510270.11370-100000@taz.harding.edu>
Resent-From: redhat-list@redhat.com
Reply-To: redhat-list@redhat.com
On Fri, 6 Nov 1998, Kevin A. Pieckiel wrote:
> On Fri, 6 Nov 1998, William Stearns wrote:
> -> If this is the first time you've compiled a kernel, try the tool I
>
> Actually, I've compiled several kernels on several different
Please forgive me; I always run the risk of over- or
underestimating what my correspondants know...
> occasions. My concern is for the new kernel breaking existing
There's always a chance that will happen, but it's rarely more
than an annoyance. If you get a package mismatch, the worst that's likely
to happen is that a particular service doesn't work; you can always reboot
into an older kernel without a problem.
> packages. If I don't have what I need in a prepackaged RPM, I
> really don't have a clue where to get the source to compile and
> install unless it's on www.gnu.org. Take, for example, the
> aforementioned modutils package. How on earth does one find the
> sources for that (or any package) in the event an updated RPM
> isn't available?
Good question. I won't answer your modutils request directly, as
other current or future readers may want to know how to find some
different package. There are a couple of places to look. I'll include
them in order of easiest to best fallback options:
1) See if your current RedHat CD has the package.
2) Check the updates directory on RedHat's ftp server. [*1]
3) Check the most recent RedHat distribution. [*1]
4) Check the contrib directory (use the glibc version for RedHat 5.0 and
higher, lib for 4.2 and lower). [*1]
If you need to fall back on the source tars, you have a couple of
places to try:
5) Check /usr/doc/package_name... The author of the package may have
included an ftp or Web site location in the documentation.
6) Look in the /usr/src/linux/Documentation/Changes for the new kernel
you're trying to use. That file not only lists what you need but also
where to find the tools.
7) Open up the Source RPM (.src.rpm) with (I think) rpm --install
whatever.src.rpm. I _think_ the source gets placed under
/usr/src/redhat/SOURCES and /usr/src/redhat/SPECS. The source code or the
spec should be able to lead you to at least an email address.
8) Walk around the Linux documentation project at
http://sunsite.unc.edu/linux . The development projects page and Linux
Software Map links should be especially helpful.
9) Take a look around ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/linux/ (or maybe
.../Linux/)
10) Ask on the RedHat list. :-)
11) Ask on an irc channel. For those that heven't tried it, I really
recommend irc.linpeople.org, channel #LinPeople . The people there are
marvelous.
12) Ask on an appropriate comp.os.linux.... newsgroup.
13) Do a search on www.yahoo.com, www.altavista.digital.com, etc.
If you've followed all of those and still can't find any refernce
to the package, it doesn't exist!
> Thanks so much for your informative response. I appreciate your
> time and answers.
You're quite welcome...
Cheers,
- Bill
[*1] RedHat's ftp servers were re-organized into ftp.redhat.com,
contrib.redhat.com, updates.redhat.com and incoming.redhat.com recently.
All but the last are worth looking into.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unix _is_ user friendly. It's just very selective about who its friends
are. And sometimes even best friends have fights.
William Stearns (wstearns@pobox.com)
Mason, buildkernel, and named2hosts are at: http://www.pobox.com/~wstearns
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