update manager refuses to upgrade kernel to newer version

[Gene Heskett]

On Thursday 18 February 2016 06:16:06 Spyros Tsiolis wrote:

> Hi Gene,
>
> On Thu, 18/2/16, Gene Heskett <gheskett at wdtv.com> wrote:
> >  This sounds as if you did not do a "make
> >  modules install", which creates
> >  the
> >  whole /lib/modules/version modules tree on the drive.
>
> Would I be able to create such modules while the system is
> running another kernel version ?
>
> E.g. on this specific system, kernel running is v3.13.0-46.
>
> Can I create modules from v3.13.0-77 while the system
> is running on the v3.13.0-46 ?
>
> s.

I don't see why not.  I believe that info is in the makefile, but OTOH I 
haven't done this since I decided to stay with a kernel built by the 
linuxcnc people so that I can run gcode I am working on in a simulated 
environment while sitting in a comfy office chair istead of standing in 
front of the machine listening to my screaming back.

I did for years, track the lkml list, and built new kernels pretty 
regularly.  I'd post the script I used to do that with but since its 
about 250 lines and I got tossed from lkml for objecting too loudly 
about something I have forgotten about as that was back in 3.2 days, and 
I am sure my script has been broken many times by subsequent changes.

So as its quite dated by now, I won't.

Be aware that any make command containing the keyword "install" will need 
to be done as root.

And as you experiment, that every line of the script you develop needs to 
be terminated with a pair of && so that if an error IS encountered, the 
script dies right there, leaving the error visible on screen and showing 
you what the error was.  Without that, the script will continue with the 
next line, and the compilers outrput will scroll your error off-screen 
long before you get a chance to read it, effectly gone forever.  That is 
another reason I had for setting the terminal's scroll back history to 
at least 10,000 lines.

Its an interesting and educational experience, Spyros Tsiolis, building a 
kernel and initrd that exactly fits YOUR hardware. ;-)  It likely will 
not be noticeably faster, but the result is a lot smaller than the 
generic "make nearly all" configuration the distributions have to use 
because they haven't a clue what hardware it will find when its loaded 
to your machine by grub.

Generally, its a good idea to set the .config, I like "make xconfig" for 
that, some like "make menuconfig" as it doesn't need X, to make the 
hardware support you need as modules EXCEPT those that are needed to 
read the disk and get you booted to the point that it has enough smarts 
to load the next module needed from the initrd as it completes the 
bootup.  Once thats done, the memory occupied by the initrd file is 
free'd and anything else it needs had better have been installed as a 
module in the appropriate subdir of /lib/modules/kernel-version on the 
hard drive.

But thats just a general outline, you may, and likely will, find a better 
way.  Thats part of the fun of learning open source.

Cheers, Gene Heskett
-- 
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>