SDB:Migration of SUSE LINUX 9.0 to Kernel Version 2.6

İçindekiler

1 Situation
2 Procedure
3 Additional Information
- 3.1 Bug Reports on Kernel 2.6

Situation

You want to use kernel 2.6 on SUSE LINUX 9.0.

Procedure

SUSE LINUX 9.0 is ready for kernel 2.6. All tools (with a few exceptions) support the 2.6 kernel. Usually, you can install a 2.6 series kernel without changing much.

Warning

This article assumes that you are already familiar with RPM packages and the SUSE rescue system and know how to boot a SUSE system from the installation CD if necessary. Although unlikely, there is always a risk of losing data when updating to a major kernel version. Therefore, you should back up important data.

Kernel 2.6 and related problems are not covered by the free installation support.

The SUSE kernel developer team has published RPM packages of the latest SUSE kernel at:

http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/suse/people/mantel/next/

In addition, the directory

http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/suse/people/kraxel/9.0-i386/

contains other packages that fix small bugs in kernel 2.6 or are needed to explore new 2.6 features.

For SUSE LINUX 9.0, you only need to update the package mkinitrd. Afterwards, install one of the kernel packages, adjust your boot loader if necessary, generate a modprobe.conf file, and reboot. However, the following issues must be taken into account:

Module Initialization Tools

The way modules are loaded has changed. Modules are now loaded via the module init tools included in the package modutils in SUSE LINUX 9.0. The configuration in /etc/modules.conf (e.g., allocation of modules to aliases, etc.) has been moved to the file /etc/modprobe.conf. The script generate-modprobe.conf can be used to convert the existing modules.conf into modprobe.conf by reading modules.conf and dumping modprobe.conf to STDOUT. Proceed as follows:

        generate-modprobe.conf | tee /etc/modprobe.conf

This conversion process may not be perfect, as there are simply too many possibilities for the way modules.conf looks. In addition, init scripts based on a return code from modprobe or insmod might no longer work, because these have changed, too. For information about the syntax of modprobe.conf, refer to the manual page (man 5 modprobe.conf).

Crypto FS

File system encryption via the loop device works in a completely different way in kernel 2.6. However, SUSE 2.6 kernel contains a loop_fish2 module that understands the passwords and IVs of kernel 2.4.

ALSA

The names of the options for the ALSA modules have changed substantially. Some options have been dropped entirely. All options in kernel 2.4 had the prefix snd_ (e.g., snd_index). This prefix no longer exists in kernel 2.6. In kernel 2.6, many ALSA modules do not require any options. If you encounter problems with ALSA, try disabling the module-specific options. To make the ALSA init script work, update the ALSA package.

sysfs

The init script /etc/init.d/boot in SUSE LINUX 9.0 mounts sysfs to the directory /sys if available. Create this directory if you want to use the data in sysfs. You do not need to add an entry in fstab.

hotplug

The hotplug scripts in SUSE LINUX 9.0 do not yet work smoothly with kernel 2.6. SUSE is working on these scripts. The current version is available in the package hotplug-beta.

PCMCIA and WLAN

Currently, most external PCMCIA modules are missing, as they still need to be ported to kernel 2.6. Nevertheless, kernel 2.6 already includes a wealth of PCMCI modules.

IPsec

Kernel 2.6 has its own IPsec implementation. To use it, you need the package ipsec-tools. If you use FreeSwan, you can continue using it with kernel 2.6 by updating the package freeswan. This package is not backward-compatible. Thus, if you downgrade to kernel 2.4, you should also restore the original FreeSwan package included in SUSE LINUX 9.0.

SELinux

Kernel 2.6 enables you to benefit from additional security features implemented within the scope of the SELinux Project. If you use one of the SUSE 2.6 kernel RPMs on SUSE LINUX 9.0, these features are available in the kernel. However, the features are missing in the userspace tools. For this reason, it is advisable to boot the kernel with the option selinux=0.

Serial ATA

Under kernel 2.4, serial ATA disks are addressed via SCSI devices. Thus, if your serial ATA disk was previously designated as /dev/hdX, it will be designated as /dev/sdX under kernel 2.6.

IDE Raid (Promise, Highpoint, Silicon Image)

Unfortunately, the drivers for these controllers have not yet been ported to kernel 2.6. Therefore, if you depend on such a RAID array, you cannot use kernel 2.6 at the present time.

ISDN (I4L)

Unfortunately, the i4L ISDN modules have not been ported to kernel 2.6 either. Presently, you can only use cards supported by the CAPI modules.

Additional Information

The following links provide additional information about kernel 2.6:

Bug Reports on Kernel 2.6

To report SUSE-specific bugs in our kernel 2.6 RPM packages or in any other package, please use our online feedback form. <keyword>kernel,2.6,migration</keyword>