Kernel version mismatch (headers and source)

English Applications
#1

I’m loving opensuse, great distro. You’ve don a fantastic job.

The linux kernel is 2.6.25.9 yet the package ‘linux-kernel-headers’ is 2.6.25. I’m aware that a few distro do this, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. Any insights?

#2

I don’t believe the headers need to be updated unless you jump to a new major version number.

#3

Does not appear to be the case, as I couldn’t compile against it. So I ended up just downloading the entire source, and had no issues.

#4

Did you need to compile a module or something?

I always end up just downloading the entire source when compiling modules anyway.

#5

Erikina schrieb:
> I’m loving opensuse, great distro. You’ve don a fantastic job.
>
> The linux kernel is 2.6.25.9 yet the package ‘linux-kernel-headers’ is
> 2.6.25. I’m aware that a few distro do this, but for the life of me, I
> can’t figure out why. Any insights?

I think you are confused about the purpose of “linux-kernel-headers”.
This is not the package you need for compiling kernel modules, but
the headers describing the kernel’s userspace API. It does not change
between maintenance versions (2.6.25 -> 2.6.25.n), so there is no need
to update it.

If you want to compile a kernel module you need the kernel-sources
package which is indeed updated together with the binary kernel
packages. Just make sure, if you install the kernel-sources package
some time later than the original system, to run an online update in
order to make sure it catches up with any kernel updates that may
already have occurred.

HTH
T.