Kernel-Source

[jbuckley2004]

I've successfully installed Mandriva 2009.0 One Live, the KDE version, and updated using easy-urpmi, like usual. So far, I'm very pleased.

 

uname -r tells me that I'm running with 2.6.27-desktop586-0.rc8.2mnb as the kernel. I'd like to install the corresponding Kernel-Source rpm before any update are made to the kernel and things get confusing, but doing a search on "Kernel-Source" yields two sources to choose from; a) kernel-source-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb (described as the source code for kernel-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb) and b) kernel-source-latest (described as "a virtual rpm that aims to make sure you always have the latest kernel-source installed...").

 

Is it correct that I don't want to choose a), and I want to choose b)? I'm making the ribald assumption that 2.6.27-desktop586-0.rc8.2mnb is NOT kernel-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb. Right?

 

Thanks for enlightenment.

 

 

[moved from Installing Mandriva by spinynorman]

[AussieJohn]

As far as I know, you are advised to install both.

At least that is what I did in the past.

If you were selecting kernel-source for just enabling Proprietary Nvidia video driver installing and not intending to compile a kernel then install kernel-development instead. It will still enable the driver install to take place. It is likely OK for ATI video cards as well but you would need to check or someone here at MUB can give you an answer here.

 

Cheers. John.

[David Batson]

If you plan on keeping up-to-date with the latest kernel, then install kernel-latest. Otherwise, I would leave that one unchecked.

 

For myself, I found that the latest kernel of 2008.1 was not as compatible with my hardware as the previous one. So I would not want kernel-latest. Once kernel-latest has been installed, it can be hard to back out of. You can uninstall a kernel, but if you want to install an earlier version, kernel-latest will still insist on installing the latest kernel - it seems even after kernel-latest has been removed (at least in some instances). My experience was that installing a previous kernel made kernel-latest a dependency. Perhaps this was just a bug with that particular package - I don't know.

[SilverSurfer60]

If you want the sources to match what you are running then install what uname -r says, that way if you build a third party module it will have the correct sources.

As John says and it says in the mcc descriptions you should install the developement rpm as it will contain all the headers you need.

There are differences in the two packages you mentioned, just what I don't know.

[jbuckley2004]

Is it correct that I don't want to choose a), and I want to choose b)? I'm making the ribald assumption that 2.6.27-desktop586-0.rc8.2mnb is NOT kernel-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb. Right?

Thanks for the quick reply, all.

 

But I have to say - I'm still confused on one point. I'll try to clarify my question.

 

Is Kernel-2.6.27-desktop586-0.rc8 the same as Kernel-2.6.27-0.rc8? I didn't think it was.

 

Similarly, does kernel-source-2.6.27-0.rc8 match the desktop586 Kernel? Does kernel-source-latest?

 

Oh - And thanks for the kernel-development tip, John. You've correctly discerned my motives here ;> and I'll take the time to research that too.

 

j

[ianw1974]

This is what you need:

 

[ian@esprit ~]$ urpmf --name kernel | grep -i devel | grep -i desktop
kernel-desktop-devel-latest
kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb
kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb
kernel-desktop-devel-latest
kernel-desktop586-devel-latest
kernel-desktop586-devel-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb
kernel-tmb-desktop-devel-2.6.27-0.rc7.5.2mdv
kernel-tmb-desktop-devel-latest

 

and pick the one that matches your existing installed kernel. The kernel source you mentioned won't match the desktop one, you would need one of these kernels to go with that particular kernel-source:

 

kernel-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb
kernel-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb

 

My system for example:

 

[ian@esprit ~]$ rpm -qa | grep -i kernel
kernel-server-devel-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb-1-1mnb2
kernel-server-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb-1-1mnb2
kernel-server-devel-latest-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb2
kernel-headers-2.6.27-4mnb2
kernel-server-latest-2.6.27-0.rc8.2mnb2
kernel-firmware-2.6.27-2mnb2

[adamw]

You don't need kernel-source unless you actually want to build a kernel. For anything else, such as building a driver that needs to build against the kernel, kernel-devel is what you need.

 

The -latest packages do exactly what they say in their descriptions. The kernel packages themselves are not, technically, upgrades of each other. If you don't have kernel-desktop-latest , a new kernel-desktop package won't be automatically installed when it becomes available, because it's a 'new package', not an upgrade to the latest kernel-desktop package. The -latest package is simply a metapackage that makes kernel packages 'upgrade' automatically, like every other package in the distro. I can go into more details if you want. :)

 

kernel-source matches all kernel flavors. This is because it's the full source tree used to generate each of the different flavors. So there isn't a kernel-source-desktop , kernel-source-server , kernel-source-desktop586 ... there's just kernel-source.

[Hotbelgo]

What do I need to do to recompile one module for a "desktop" kernel. I get an error that the result at present is not "desktop" and therefore incompatible with the rest of my modules (I only to recompile one in order to get a mac80211 module that will do master AP mode).

 

HB

[Kieth]

You might find your answer in the Mandriva WIKI - here.