Software updates and kernel selection [solved]

[yossarian]

Hi everyone,

 

I got today the red exclamation mark indicating that new updates are ready for me. When I clicked it, I got a window saying "one of following packages is needed", and then came a long list of kernel packages names from which I was supposed to choose. I am running with Mandriva 2007.1 (spring). If I ignore this message I see that the updates refer to ATI and nvidia drivers, some libraries for xine and mplayer, and an update for wengophone (of course, if the full list is required, let me know and I will paste it here). One package is called "kernel-legacy-latest-2.16.17-14mdv.i586, Metapackage for latest kernel-legacy", but by default it left unmarked, and I'm not sure if I need to mark it, as I believe Mandriva 2007.1 comes with kernel 2.16.17-13 (correct me if I'm wrong).

 

So what kernel should I choose from the opening window?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[moved from Software by spinynorman]

[scarecrow]

If you don't have any issues with the one you're currently running, *do-not-update* your kernel- simple as that.

But if you explicitly want to upgrade it, simply open a root console and

urpmi kernel-latest

...and that's all.

[yossarian]

Ok, then I'm going just to ignore this question and click the X button to close this window. I don't have any problems with my current kernel.

 

Thank you.

[ianw1974]

The system by default won't upgrade a kernel, because this could cause major problems with your system. This is common. Previously, Mandriva used to upgrade your kernel-source automatically, but not your kernel. This then forced you to upgrade your kernel to get your ati/nvidia drivers working because of a kernel and source mismatch.

 

When 2007.0 came out they stopped the kernel-source automatically updating, but now it seems they have enabled notification to tell you that there is a newer kernel available, if you want to upgrade to it. The only annoying thing being the notification, but this is normal on quite a few distros listing it as being available but not installed/upgraded yet.

[yossarian]

Thanks Ian. So what is your bottom line? Do I have to upgrade the kernel for the new ati/nvidia drivers to work, or can I stay with my current kernel?

[ianw1974]

If there's no need to change it, stick with it. I tend to upgrade my kernels as well as my nvidia drivers. But sometimes it can make things much worse. So maybe just stick with it. The old addage "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" usually fits for each time I bork something :D (which fortunately, isn't that often).

[yossarian]

Actually, I'd like to update my nvidia drivers, for two reasons:

1. I try to update whatever I can and work always with the most updated versions (besides the kernel).

2. I know it sounds somewhat childish, but I really don't like the red exclamation mark. It makes me feel I missed something, or did something wrong. So I have to update all the packages all the time for the (bad) red mark to go away. ;)

 

One thing I didn't understand: Do I have to update the kernel for the new drivers to take effect?

[yossarian]

Ian, there is a problem after all with ignoring the kernal question. After about an hour or so of updates I got this message:

 

Problem during installation

4 installation transactions failed

There was a problem during the installation:

kernel-source is needed by dkms-2.0.16-1mdv2007.1.noarch

dkms is needed by dkms-nvidia71xx-1.0-7184.10plf2007.1.i586

dkms is needed by dkms-nvidia71xx-1.0-7184.10plf2007.1.i586

dkms is needed by dkms-nvidia71xx-1.0-7184.10plf2007.1.i586

dkms is needed by dkms-nvidia96xx-1.0-9631.6plf2007.1.i586

dkms is needed by dkms-nvidia96xx-1.0-9631.6plf2007.1.i586

dkms is needed by dkms-nvidia96xx-1.0-9631.6plf2007.1.i586

dkms is needed by dkms-nvidia97xx-1.0-9755.2plf2007.1.i586

dkms is needed by dkms-nvidia97xx-1.0-9755.2plf2007.1.i586

dkms is needed by dkms-nvidia97xx-1.0-9755.2plf2007.1.i586

 

So what do I do next? I need to know what kernel version to choose when I'm asked.

[tyme]

You don't have to upgrade the kernel, but you do need to get the kernel-source package that fits your kernel. Please do the command:

uname -a

at a terminal and post the output here. We can then determine what kernel-source you need, and once that is installed, you should be able to install the drivers with very little problems.

[yossarian]

Here it is:

Linux localhost 2.6.17-13mdvlegacy #1 SMP Fri Mar 23 19:05:24 UTC 2007 i686 Intel® Celeron® CPU 2.80GHz GNU/Linux

 

(A later comment: I don't understand why the code box is so big. Maybe I wrote there something important...)

[spinynorman]

(A later comment: I don't understand why the code box is so big. Maybe I wrote there something important...)

For small pieces of code, use 'code' tags instead of 'codebox'... :)

[yossarian]

And among the available options in the installation window I see:

 

kernel-source-2.6.17.13mdv-1-1mdv2007.1.i586

 

and:

 

kernel-source-stripped-2.6.17.13mdv-1-1mdv2007.1.i586

 

Am I in the right direction, or do I need something totally different?

[tyme]

Right direction. I would install the first one. If that doesn't work, let us know :)

[yossarian]

Right direction. I would install the first one. If that doesn't work, let us know :)

 

Fine, I'll give it a try. Thanks for the code/codebox clarification, and thanks to spiny too. Every day I learn something new, and every day I forget what I learned the day before.

[ffi]

Right direction. I would install the first one. If that doesn't work, let us know :)

I would install the second one (kernel-source-stripped), it saves about 200MB compared to kernel-source and if it doesnt work you can always still try it later.