Re: [Sheflug] LONG - SuSE 7.2 kernel source

[Barrie Bremner <xxxxx [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Everyone else - I'm probably going to stick my foot in it a couple of
times - I'd be interested to see what you've got to say on the kernel
options - maybe even I could loose a few options.

>>>>> "matt" == matt fairtlough <matt [at] fairtlough.net> writes:

    matt> I had several "greyed out" problems (it would be nice to
    matt> have access to an explanation of why options are greyed
    matt> out).  It is definitely bugged.  I saved a configuration,
    matt> then loaded it again.  Earlier options were undone. Anyone
    matt> else found bugs in xconfig to do with saving and loading
    matt> configurations?

    matt> Does the following look half-way sensible?

Which kernel version are you looking at? I'm assuming 2.2 with the
ipchains line further down.

First up, IIRC I didn't get a perfectly working kernel until I'd built
a few - they (mostly) booted, but sound, or network, or some other
minor detail didn't quite work.

Make sure that you keep an old kernel image available to LILO, and try
your custom rolled one - at least you've got something to fallback on.

The other thing - I tend to build nearly everything in. Other people
like to leave as much as possible as modules.

Either way - make sure you get the basics built in - filesystem
support (Ext2, reiserfs if you use it), PCI, IDE, /proc, video and so
on.

Looking at these choices (I'm going mainly from memory, or by looking
at 2.4.x menuconfig options...):

    matt> Summary of what I've chosen for the kernel so far:

    matt> Loadable module support -> Kernel module loader (replaces
    matt> kerneld I'm told...hmm.)

I tend to build in everything in there - just for good measure.

    matt> None of the options in Processor type and features except
    matt> High memory support enabled.

What processor are you running? If you're using a Pentium Pro/II/III
you might want to read the help for a few more options (MTRRs for
example) and decide if you want to build them in.

    matt> I've an Abit KA7 board, which is apparently PCI as well as
    matt> UDMA so General setup -> PCI support is Y (required for
    matt> config of some IDE devices) Also EISE support is Y

EISA does not equal ISA. Loose it. Build in PCI - that's the most
common bus these days, I doubt if you have an MCA or EISA bus based
machine.

    matt> I've put in power management support and advanced power
    matt> management BIOS support.  This seems to work in my system.

Good enough reason.

    matt> No support for binary emulation of other systems.  No MTD
    matt> support.  Parallel port support / PC-style hardware; nothing
    matt> else in this category, not even IEEE 1284 transfer modes.

Binary emulation? That is a *BSD thing - what is available for Linux
is merely support for different types of binaries, IIRC.

I generally select both AOUT, ELF (need this) and MISC binary support.
The warnings in the help for AOUT seem rather dire - so I'm scared to
remove it :-), ELF is a necessity and MISC is there for good measure.
To be honest, even I'm not sure if I need it.

    matt> Plug and Play support -> Y & ISA PnP as module (not sure
    matt> about this one: I only use PCI slots now and doubt I'll use
    matt> the ISA slot ever)

    matt> Block devices -> Normal PC floppy disk but no XT or paride
    matt> support.  Loopback device support and RAM disk support as a
    matt> module (is this a good idea?  thought it might help in an
    matt> emergency) why is support for an initial RAM disk greyed
    matt> out?  Certainly I've had problems with initrd and currently
    matt> disable it...

I use loopback support for mounting CD images before burning them to
disk, and it can also be used for encrypted loopback devices
(encrypted filesystem-in-a-file, basically).

    matt> No multi-device support.

Fine - it's mainly software RAID, LVM, linear devices - see the
HOWTOs. You'll know if you need this lot.

    matt> Networking options (oh dear!)  This is more-or-less
    matt> guesswork on my part, apart from choosing the suggested
    matt> defaults where I can.  I want to use ipchains so I disabled
    matt> network packet filtering.  No socket filtering but unix
    matt> domain sockets and TCP/IP networking.  Nothing else (besides
    matt> Appletalk support as a module as I've a mac and want to link
    matt> it up).

IPChains? You'll need packet filtering - that's what ipchains (and
iptables for 2.4) is.

    matt> ATA/IDE/MFM/RLL support of course.  IDE/ATA-2 DISK support
    matt> multi-mode (because I do get the errors described in the
    matt> help tab) ATAPI CDROM support and ALSO (is this right?) SCSI
    matt> emulation support.

    matt> IDE/ATAPI floppy support because I've a zip drive.

Internal IDE Zip? If so, that's fine. If it's a parallel port one,
you'll need SCSI emulation (which you say you've selected) and the
correct Zip drive module from under SCSI devices.

    matt> HPT366 support.

    matt> I suppose I need scsi support if I'm doing scsi emulation?

Yes.

    matt> I've enabled SCSI CD-ROM support because I want to do SCSI
    matt> emulation on the CR-RW.  Is this right?  SCSI generic
    matt> support as a module (?)

That'll do. See my note at the top about modules - it's a personal thing.
You will need SCSI emulation, SCSI generic support and SCSI CDROM
support for IDE CDRW drives.

    matt> Network device support -> Y Ethernet 10/100 Mbs support -> Y
    matt> RealTek RTL 8139 Fast Internet adaptor

    matt> No automounting.

    matt> ISO 9660 and Joliet extensions.

Yeap - need for CDROMs.

    matt> /proc and /proc/config.gz system support

    matt> no oSS sound modules, just support for SBlive and via 82
    matt> audio codec.

Suck it and see. If it works, you've got it right.

Hope that helps.

Baz.

-- 
Barrie J. Bremner		OpenPGP public key ID: 5164F553
baz [at] barriebremner.com	http://barriebremner.com/


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