… as we used to say in the Navy when something finally worked smoothly … " A thing of beauty" 
…
Congratulations.
Normal HEAD:/ kernel from the standard Kernel repositories.
Today I built my own -desktop rc6 because the kernel files were slightly out of sync and I want to change some of the default settings to suit my peculiar system better.
My congratulations !
Did you add new kernel entry to /boot/grub/menu.lst manually ?
And is it necessary to change also /etc/sysconfig/bootloader file ?
BTW, if kernel downgrade will be necessary - how many links will be necessary to update manually ?
In /boot - vmlinuz, initrd
In /usr/src - linux, linux-obj (if source is installed).
Some more ?
If Myrlyn installed with "rpm -ivh " and if the rpms are built like the standard Novell/SuSE-GmbH kernel rpms, then he should still have the old kernel and the new kernel in a dual boot.
If he wishes to remove the new kernel (or the old kernel) he can easily do so via YaST > Software > Software management (or with Smart Software package manager ! : - /oldcpu runs and hides from the flames ) …
I installed multiple kernels at the same time (of almost same version, ie 2.26.27-variant for some sound dev’s while doing some debugging on sound) … ( … and then earlier many 2.26.23 kernel variants when I had a hardware fault and was mistakenly blaming the devs of the kernel - I had to PROFUSELY apologize after that mistake on my part … ). The biggest thing there is to watch the /boot/grub/menu.lst, as the rpm scripts that update that file can get confused with multiple openSUSE variants present. I had no other problems … but then again the kernel versions I tried did not change much between variants.
Apologies for the delay, and thank you to everyone for your congratulations. In particular, I would like to thank Oldcpu for all his help and support, and for not losing patience with me!
I installed pre-built rpms as oldcpu said in his post. Menu.lst was updated automatically, and so far I have not found anything that is not working, or working differently (apart, of course, from the TV card!).
The original kernel was indeed preserved, and I now have grub options for the new and old kernels, together with failsafe options for each. All work.
The only thing I am a bit confused by is that Yast>Software>Software Management only displays the new kernel version, where I was expecting to get 2 sets of entries, one for each. This is despite installing using rpm -ivh, enabling the multiversion variable in zypper, and rebuilding the rpm database. A VERY minor thing, though.
Just for the record, my PC is a fairly elderly Dell Dimension 3000, more or less as supplied (apart from the TV card) so I guess the simplicity of the architecture has helped.
One day, when I’m feeling brave (or foolhardy), I might have a go at compiling a kernel, but in the meantime, I am one happy bunny!!!
Now that you mention it, I think I’ve seen that too , … but I’m not sure. …
But I think if you type:
rpm -qa | grep kernel
they should all show up
I checked, and they do.
Mind if i get hop in this topic too? hehe
I need to update my kernel from 2.6.27 to atleast 2.6.28.
If i download one of the precompiled kernels from Webpin and do : rpm -Uvh, if things go wrong will i still have an option on GRUB to launch older 2.6.27 kernel OS ?
Thanks
PD: How do i download a pre-compiled kernel from WebPin? only option i get is “View contents of this package”
Sorry, but which kernels should i download, Kernel-Default? Kernel-pae?
NO.
rpm -Uvh will remove the old kernel.
Just as Oldcpu says, DO NOT USE rpm -Uvh. You MUST use rpm -ivh to retain the old kernel.
As for which rpms to download, follow oldcpu’s instructions earlier in the thread for how to identify which packages you need.
Good Luck
hmmmm only option i get from Webpin is a 1-Click install ??
No. Thats not true.
Webpin gives you a link in addition to the one click button. LOOK AGAIN ! Go to the link. Look at the contents inside the directory that the link takes you to.
Please, do not do this.
If you have such a misunderstanding and can not see an INTERNET server/directory, I do not think you have the Linux knowledge for this. Stop now while your system still functions.
Maybe after you get a year or more of additional Linux experience under your belt you can consider this. But that web pin oversight was so basic it tells me you do not have the knowledge level.
Sorry, my bad hehe. So from reading the other user success, he downloaded, Kernel-pae, Kernel-base, Kernel-extra.
So, under 2.6.29.6, Index of /SUSE-11.1/x86_64 ,i found these 4 rpms:
kernel-default-2.6.29.6-jen82.x86_64.rpm
kernel-rt-2.6.29.6-jen82.x86_64.rpm
kernel-source-2.6.29.6-jen82.x86_64.rpm
kernel-syms-2.6.29.6-jen82.x86_64.rpm
I understand what u mean, but hey, i have to learn somehow, already did a full backup of important files on another HD. So risk of getting in trouble is not that much. Thanks for your concern though, shows ur very professional on what you do.
I must add 2.6.31 (from 11.2) kernel to my SuSE 11.1 kernel (2.6.27-default) installation.
I installed (rpm -ivh) kernel-default-2.6.31* and kernel-default-base* rpm’s.
But it’s necessary also to modify /etc/modprobe.conf content: rpm says that it can’t find the following modules: ata_piix, jbd, ext3, sd_mod, usbcore, ohci_hcd, uhci_hcd, usbhid.
I may temporary work w/o usb, but I need ext3 and ata :). It looks that the best way is to add the necessary modules for ext4 (instead of ext3) and ata - to /etc/modprobe.conf.local. This will give me the possibility to load via grub both - old and new - kernels.
I may extract /etc/modprobe.conf and/or /etc/modprobe.d from new module-init-tools rpm from 11.2.
But may be somebody simple know the necessary additional modprobe.conf strings ? Or may be my proposal is not the best or wrong ?
You need to check the content of the packages you are installing. Those modules are inside the default base kernel package. I seem to recall though - please don’t hold me to this - that there are some packaging differences in the Factory kernels, so that may be the problem.
Separately, if you need the ata and ext4 modules to access the disk at boot, and for that matter the other hardware modules, these should be in the initrd, not modprobe’d (which IIRC also changes with the 2.6.31 kernel).
Good luck.
Thanks ! I’ll look to 2.6.31 kernel packages contents. I use Factory kernels (however I don’t know the sense of term Factory :)) - but I didn’t find any ext3 context (string - I used grep) in modules.dep .
Well, but will ext4 module built in initrd work w/ext3 ?
And, btw, ext4 module from the kernel itself ?
I need not only to boot, but to work w/2.6.31 - w/my SATA HDD having both ext3 and xfs (for /home).
I checked 2.6.31-4.31 base-default and default kernel RPM’s contents. They don’t have any modules w/names having “ext3” substring. default-base kernel package don’t have even ext4 - it’s presented only in default kernel package.
(To be more exact - it’s x86-64 kernels).