[OT?] is there no package containing the raw "vmlinux" kernel image?

[Robert P. J. Day]

On Thu, 1 Jul 2010, Chase Douglas wrote:

> I can see two potential issues here:
>
> 1. The original and the newly built kernels will be different due to
> the build time stamp inserted into the kernel (you can use uname -a
> to see it). Maybe this won't trip up gdb though.
>
> 2. It cannot be assumed that building a kernel in the same fashion
> will produce the same binary. Even if you build it again on the
> exact same system with the exact same binaries and libraries, gcc is
> nondeterministic when you compile with optimizations. It may or may
> not produce the same output. It probably will, but you can't assume
> that's the case.

  i'm starting to believe you're right as i compared the two relevant
System.map files and, while they start off the same, they eventually
start to differ.  i think that, as part of the lesson, i'll simply
have to require that the students build a new kernel and use the
corresponding vmlinux file that was generated as part of the build.

rday

p.s.  this was the rationale for all of this effort:

http://www.linux.com/learn/linux-training/33991-the-kernel-newbie-corner-kernel-and-module-debugging-with-gdb

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Robert P. J. Day                               Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA

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