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1 | Linux kernel release 4.x <http://kernel.org/> |
2 | ============================================= | |
1da177e4 | 3 | |
49d86dc9 | 4 | These are the release notes for Linux version 4. Read them carefully, |
1da177e4 | 5 | as they tell you what this is all about, explain how to install the |
cfaf790f | 6 | kernel, and what to do if something goes wrong. |
1da177e4 | 7 | |
44b10006 MCC |
8 | What is Linux? |
9 | -------------- | |
1da177e4 | 10 | |
4f4e2dc3 XVP |
11 | Linux is a clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by |
12 | Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across | |
13 | the Net. It aims towards POSIX and Single UNIX Specification compliance. | |
1da177e4 | 14 | |
4f4e2dc3 XVP |
15 | It has all the features you would expect in a modern fully-fledged Unix, |
16 | including true multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand | |
17 | loading, shared copy-on-write executables, proper memory management, | |
18 | and multistack networking including IPv4 and IPv6. | |
1da177e4 LT |
19 | |
20 | It is distributed under the GNU General Public License - see the | |
cfaf790f | 21 | accompanying COPYING file for more details. |
1da177e4 | 22 | |
44b10006 MCC |
23 | On what hardware does it run? |
24 | ----------------------------- | |
1da177e4 | 25 | |
4f4e2dc3 XVP |
26 | Although originally developed first for 32-bit x86-based PCs (386 or higher), |
27 | today Linux also runs on (at least) the Compaq Alpha AXP, Sun SPARC and | |
620034c8 | 28 | UltraSPARC, Motorola 68000, PowerPC, PowerPC64, ARM, Hitachi SuperH, Cell, |
4f4e2dc3 | 29 | IBM S/390, MIPS, HP PA-RISC, Intel IA-64, DEC VAX, AMD x86-64, AXIS CRIS, |
ad29fff8 | 30 | Xtensa, Tilera TILE, AVR32, ARC and Renesas M32R architectures. |
4f4e2dc3 XVP |
31 | |
32 | Linux is easily portable to most general-purpose 32- or 64-bit architectures | |
33 | as long as they have a paged memory management unit (PMMU) and a port of the | |
34 | GNU C compiler (gcc) (part of The GNU Compiler Collection, GCC). Linux has | |
35 | also been ported to a number of architectures without a PMMU, although | |
36 | functionality is then obviously somewhat limited. | |
620034c8 JJ |
37 | Linux has also been ported to itself. You can now run the kernel as a |
38 | userspace application - this is called UserMode Linux (UML). | |
1da177e4 | 39 | |
44b10006 MCC |
40 | Documentation |
41 | ------------- | |
1da177e4 LT |
42 | |
43 | - There is a lot of documentation available both in electronic form on | |
44 | the Internet and in books, both Linux-specific and pertaining to | |
45 | general UNIX questions. I'd recommend looking into the documentation | |
46 | subdirectories on any Linux FTP site for the LDP (Linux Documentation | |
47 | Project) books. This README is not meant to be documentation on the | |
48 | system: there are much better sources available. | |
49 | ||
50 | - There are various README files in the Documentation/ subdirectory: | |
cfaf790f | 51 | these typically contain kernel-specific installation notes for some |
1da177e4 | 52 | drivers for example. See Documentation/00-INDEX for a list of what |
8c27ceff MCC |
53 | is contained in each file. Please read the |
54 | :ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>` file, as it | |
1da177e4 LT |
55 | contains information about the problems, which may result by upgrading |
56 | your kernel. | |
57 | ||
58 | - The Documentation/DocBook/ subdirectory contains several guides for | |
59 | kernel developers and users. These guides can be rendered in a | |
2af238e4 | 60 | number of formats: PostScript (.ps), PDF, HTML, & man-pages, among others. |
44b10006 MCC |
61 | After installation, ``make psdocs``, ``make pdfdocs``, ``make htmldocs``, |
62 | or ``make mandocs`` will render the documentation in the requested format. | |
1da177e4 | 63 | |
44b10006 MCC |
64 | Installing the kernel source |
65 | ---------------------------- | |
1da177e4 LT |
66 | |
67 | - If you install the full sources, put the kernel tarball in a | |
3047bcc5 | 68 | directory where you have permissions (e.g. your home directory) and |
44b10006 | 69 | unpack it:: |
1da177e4 | 70 | |
1913c6f4 | 71 | xz -cd linux-4.X.tar.xz | tar xvf - |
b39f72fe | 72 | |
5b4285fb | 73 | Replace "X" with the version number of the latest kernel. |
1da177e4 LT |
74 | |
75 | Do NOT use the /usr/src/linux area! This area has a (usually | |
76 | incomplete) set of kernel headers that are used by the library header | |
77 | files. They should match the library, and not get messed up by | |
78 | whatever the kernel-du-jour happens to be. | |
79 | ||
49d86dc9 | 80 | - You can also upgrade between 4.x releases by patching. Patches are |
1913c6f4 YB |
81 | distributed in the xz format. To install by patching, get all the |
82 | newer patch files, enter the top level directory of the kernel source | |
44b10006 | 83 | (linux-4.X) and execute:: |
88f7a642 | 84 | |
1913c6f4 | 85 | xz -cd ../patch-4.x.xz | patch -p1 |
1da177e4 | 86 | |
5b4285fb | 87 | Replace "x" for all versions bigger than the version "X" of your current |
44b10006 | 88 | source tree, **in_order**, and you should be ok. You may want to remove |
5b4285fb MW |
89 | the backup files (some-file-name~ or some-file-name.orig), and make sure |
90 | that there are no failed patches (some-file-name# or some-file-name.rej). | |
a20e3a79 | 91 | If there are, either you or I have made a mistake. |
1da177e4 | 92 | |
49d86dc9 | 93 | Unlike patches for the 4.x kernels, patches for the 4.x.y kernels |
6ad44229 | 94 | (also known as the -stable kernels) are not incremental but instead apply |
49d86dc9 JK |
95 | directly to the base 4.x kernel. For example, if your base kernel is 4.0 |
96 | and you want to apply the 4.0.3 patch, you must not first apply the 4.0.1 | |
97 | and 4.0.2 patches. Similarly, if you are running kernel version 4.0.2 and | |
98 | want to jump to 4.0.3, you must first reverse the 4.0.2 patch (that is, | |
44b10006 | 99 | patch -R) **before** applying the 4.0.3 patch. You can read more on this in |
8c27ceff | 100 | :ref:`Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst <applying_patches>`. |
6ad44229 | 101 | |
1da177e4 LT |
102 | Alternatively, the script patch-kernel can be used to automate this |
103 | process. It determines the current kernel version and applies any | |
44b10006 | 104 | patches found:: |
1da177e4 | 105 | |
3773b454 | 106 | linux/scripts/patch-kernel linux |
1da177e4 LT |
107 | |
108 | The first argument in the command above is the location of the | |
109 | kernel source. Patches are applied from the current directory, but | |
110 | an alternative directory can be specified as the second argument. | |
111 | ||
44b10006 | 112 | - Make sure you have no stale .o files and dependencies lying around:: |
1da177e4 | 113 | |
3773b454 MW |
114 | cd linux |
115 | make mrproper | |
1da177e4 LT |
116 | |
117 | You should now have the sources correctly installed. | |
118 | ||
44b10006 MCC |
119 | Software requirements |
120 | --------------------- | |
1da177e4 | 121 | |
49d86dc9 | 122 | Compiling and running the 4.x kernels requires up-to-date |
1da177e4 | 123 | versions of various software packages. Consult |
8c27ceff | 124 | :ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>` for the minimum version numbers |
44b10006 | 125 | required and how to get updates for these packages. Beware that using |
1da177e4 LT |
126 | excessively old versions of these packages can cause indirect |
127 | errors that are very difficult to track down, so don't assume that | |
128 | you can just update packages when obvious problems arise during | |
129 | build or operation. | |
130 | ||
44b10006 MCC |
131 | Build directory for the kernel |
132 | ------------------------------ | |
1da177e4 | 133 | |
a6144bb9 | 134 | When compiling the kernel, all output files will per default be |
1da177e4 | 135 | stored together with the kernel source code. |
44b10006 | 136 | Using the option ``make O=output/dir`` allows you to specify an alternate |
1da177e4 | 137 | place for the output files (including .config). |
44b10006 | 138 | Example:: |
88f7a642 | 139 | |
49d86dc9 | 140 | kernel source code: /usr/src/linux-4.X |
3773b454 | 141 | build directory: /home/name/build/kernel |
1da177e4 | 142 | |
44b10006 | 143 | To configure and build the kernel, use:: |
88f7a642 | 144 | |
49d86dc9 | 145 | cd /usr/src/linux-4.X |
88f7a642 MW |
146 | make O=/home/name/build/kernel menuconfig |
147 | make O=/home/name/build/kernel | |
148 | sudo make O=/home/name/build/kernel modules_install install | |
1da177e4 | 149 | |
44b10006 | 150 | Please note: If the ``O=output/dir`` option is used, then it must be |
1da177e4 LT |
151 | used for all invocations of make. |
152 | ||
44b10006 MCC |
153 | Configuring the kernel |
154 | ---------------------- | |
1da177e4 LT |
155 | |
156 | Do not skip this step even if you are only upgrading one minor | |
157 | version. New configuration options are added in each release, and | |
158 | odd problems will turn up if the configuration files are not set up | |
159 | as expected. If you want to carry your existing configuration to a | |
44b10006 | 160 | new version with minimal work, use ``make oldconfig``, which will |
1da177e4 LT |
161 | only ask you for the answers to new questions. |
162 | ||
44b10006 | 163 | - Alternative configuration commands are:: |
88f7a642 | 164 | |
3773b454 | 165 | "make config" Plain text interface. |
88f7a642 | 166 | |
3773b454 | 167 | "make menuconfig" Text based color menus, radiolists & dialogs. |
88f7a642 | 168 | |
3773b454 | 169 | "make nconfig" Enhanced text based color menus. |
88f7a642 | 170 | |
3047bcc5 | 171 | "make xconfig" Qt based configuration tool. |
88f7a642 | 172 | |
3047bcc5 | 173 | "make gconfig" GTK+ based configuration tool. |
88f7a642 | 174 | |
3773b454 MW |
175 | "make oldconfig" Default all questions based on the contents of |
176 | your existing ./.config file and asking about | |
177 | new config symbols. | |
88f7a642 | 178 | |
3773b454 MW |
179 | "make silentoldconfig" |
180 | Like above, but avoids cluttering the screen | |
181 | with questions already answered. | |
182 | Additionally updates the dependencies. | |
88f7a642 | 183 | |
fc0d1b93 KC |
184 | "make olddefconfig" |
185 | Like above, but sets new symbols to their default | |
186 | values without prompting. | |
187 | ||
3773b454 MW |
188 | "make defconfig" Create a ./.config file by using the default |
189 | symbol values from either arch/$ARCH/defconfig | |
190 | or arch/$ARCH/configs/${PLATFORM}_defconfig, | |
191 | depending on the architecture. | |
88f7a642 | 192 | |
3773b454 MW |
193 | "make ${PLATFORM}_defconfig" |
194 | Create a ./.config file by using the default | |
195 | symbol values from | |
196 | arch/$ARCH/configs/${PLATFORM}_defconfig. | |
197 | Use "make help" to get a list of all available | |
198 | platforms of your architecture. | |
88f7a642 | 199 | |
3773b454 MW |
200 | "make allyesconfig" |
201 | Create a ./.config file by setting symbol | |
202 | values to 'y' as much as possible. | |
88f7a642 | 203 | |
3773b454 MW |
204 | "make allmodconfig" |
205 | Create a ./.config file by setting symbol | |
206 | values to 'm' as much as possible. | |
88f7a642 | 207 | |
3773b454 MW |
208 | "make allnoconfig" Create a ./.config file by setting symbol |
209 | values to 'n' as much as possible. | |
88f7a642 | 210 | |
3773b454 MW |
211 | "make randconfig" Create a ./.config file by setting symbol |
212 | values to random values. | |
9dfb563b | 213 | |
80b810b2 SR |
214 | "make localmodconfig" Create a config based on current config and |
215 | loaded modules (lsmod). Disables any module | |
216 | option that is not needed for the loaded modules. | |
217 | ||
218 | To create a localmodconfig for another machine, | |
219 | store the lsmod of that machine into a file | |
220 | and pass it in as a LSMOD parameter. | |
221 | ||
222 | target$ lsmod > /tmp/mylsmod | |
223 | target$ scp /tmp/mylsmod host:/tmp | |
224 | ||
225 | host$ make LSMOD=/tmp/mylsmod localmodconfig | |
226 | ||
227 | The above also works when cross compiling. | |
228 | ||
229 | "make localyesconfig" Similar to localmodconfig, except it will convert | |
230 | all module options to built in (=y) options. | |
231 | ||
2af238e4 | 232 | You can find more information on using the Linux kernel config tools |
ad444684 | 233 | in Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt. |
2af238e4 | 234 | |
44b10006 | 235 | - NOTES on ``make config``: |
88f7a642 | 236 | |
3773b454 MW |
237 | - Having unnecessary drivers will make the kernel bigger, and can |
238 | under some circumstances lead to problems: probing for a | |
239 | nonexistent controller card may confuse your other controllers | |
88f7a642 | 240 | |
3773b454 MW |
241 | - A kernel with math-emulation compiled in will still use the |
242 | coprocessor if one is present: the math emulation will just | |
243 | never get used in that case. The kernel will be slightly larger, | |
244 | but will work on different machines regardless of whether they | |
245 | have a math coprocessor or not. | |
88f7a642 | 246 | |
3773b454 MW |
247 | - The "kernel hacking" configuration details usually result in a |
248 | bigger or slower kernel (or both), and can even make the kernel | |
249 | less stable by configuring some routines to actively try to | |
250 | break bad code to find kernel problems (kmalloc()). Thus you | |
251 | should probably answer 'n' to the questions for "development", | |
252 | "experimental", or "debugging" features. | |
1da177e4 | 253 | |
44b10006 MCC |
254 | Compiling the kernel |
255 | -------------------- | |
1da177e4 | 256 | |
a1365647 | 257 | - Make sure you have at least gcc 3.2 available. |
8c27ceff | 258 | For more information, refer to :ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>`. |
1da177e4 LT |
259 | |
260 | Please note that you can still run a.out user programs with this kernel. | |
261 | ||
44b10006 MCC |
262 | - Do a ``make`` to create a compressed kernel image. It is also |
263 | possible to do ``make install`` if you have lilo installed to suit the | |
1da177e4 LT |
264 | kernel makefiles, but you may want to check your particular lilo setup first. |
265 | ||
a6144bb9 | 266 | To do the actual install, you have to be root, but none of the normal |
1da177e4 LT |
267 | build should require that. Don't take the name of root in vain. |
268 | ||
44b10006 MCC |
269 | - If you configured any of the parts of the kernel as ``modules``, you |
270 | will also have to do ``make modules_install``. | |
1da177e4 | 271 | |
2af238e4 RD |
272 | - Verbose kernel compile/build output: |
273 | ||
a6144bb9 | 274 | Normally, the kernel build system runs in a fairly quiet mode (but not |
2af238e4 RD |
275 | totally silent). However, sometimes you or other kernel developers need |
276 | to see compile, link, or other commands exactly as they are executed. | |
3047bcc5 | 277 | For this, use "verbose" build mode. This is done by passing |
44b10006 | 278 | ``V=1`` to the ``make`` command, e.g.:: |
2af238e4 | 279 | |
3773b454 | 280 | make V=1 all |
2af238e4 RD |
281 | |
282 | To have the build system also tell the reason for the rebuild of each | |
44b10006 | 283 | target, use ``V=2``. The default is ``V=0``. |
2af238e4 | 284 | |
cfaf790f | 285 | - Keep a backup kernel handy in case something goes wrong. This is |
1da177e4 LT |
286 | especially true for the development releases, since each new release |
287 | contains new code which has not been debugged. Make sure you keep a | |
288 | backup of the modules corresponding to that kernel, as well. If you | |
289 | are installing a new kernel with the same version number as your | |
290 | working kernel, make a backup of your modules directory before you | |
44b10006 | 291 | do a ``make modules_install``. |
88f7a642 | 292 | |
e3fc4cc1 RD |
293 | Alternatively, before compiling, use the kernel config option |
294 | "LOCALVERSION" to append a unique suffix to the regular kernel version. | |
295 | LOCALVERSION can be set in the "General Setup" menu. | |
1da177e4 LT |
296 | |
297 | - In order to boot your new kernel, you'll need to copy the kernel | |
35db7e94 | 298 | image (e.g. .../linux/arch/x86/boot/bzImage after compilation) |
cfaf790f | 299 | to the place where your regular bootable kernel is found. |
1da177e4 LT |
300 | |
301 | - Booting a kernel directly from a floppy without the assistance of a | |
302 | bootloader such as LILO, is no longer supported. | |
303 | ||
a6144bb9 | 304 | If you boot Linux from the hard drive, chances are you use LILO, which |
1da177e4 LT |
305 | uses the kernel image as specified in the file /etc/lilo.conf. The |
306 | kernel image file is usually /vmlinuz, /boot/vmlinuz, /bzImage or | |
307 | /boot/bzImage. To use the new kernel, save a copy of the old image | |
308 | and copy the new image over the old one. Then, you MUST RERUN LILO | |
3047bcc5 | 309 | to update the loading map! If you don't, you won't be able to boot |
1da177e4 LT |
310 | the new kernel image. |
311 | ||
cfaf790f | 312 | Reinstalling LILO is usually a matter of running /sbin/lilo. |
1da177e4 LT |
313 | You may wish to edit /etc/lilo.conf to specify an entry for your |
314 | old kernel image (say, /vmlinux.old) in case the new one does not | |
cfaf790f | 315 | work. See the LILO docs for more information. |
1da177e4 LT |
316 | |
317 | After reinstalling LILO, you should be all set. Shutdown the system, | |
318 | reboot, and enjoy! | |
319 | ||
320 | If you ever need to change the default root device, video mode, | |
44b10006 | 321 | ramdisk size, etc. in the kernel image, use the ``rdev`` program (or |
1da177e4 | 322 | alternatively the LILO boot options when appropriate). No need to |
cfaf790f | 323 | recompile the kernel to change these parameters. |
1da177e4 | 324 | |
cfaf790f | 325 | - Reboot with the new kernel and enjoy. |
1da177e4 | 326 | |
44b10006 MCC |
327 | If something goes wrong |
328 | ----------------------- | |
1da177e4 LT |
329 | |
330 | - If you have problems that seem to be due to kernel bugs, please check | |
331 | the file MAINTAINERS to see if there is a particular person associated | |
332 | with the part of the kernel that you are having trouble with. If there | |
333 | isn't anyone listed there, then the second best thing is to mail | |
99ddcc7e LT |
334 | them to me (torvalds@linux-foundation.org), and possibly to any other |
335 | relevant mailing-list or to the newsgroup. | |
1da177e4 LT |
336 | |
337 | - In all bug-reports, *please* tell what kernel you are talking about, | |
338 | how to duplicate the problem, and what your setup is (use your common | |
339 | sense). If the problem is new, tell me so, and if the problem is | |
340 | old, please try to tell me when you first noticed it. | |
341 | ||
44b10006 | 342 | - If the bug results in a message like:: |
1da177e4 | 343 | |
3773b454 MW |
344 | unable to handle kernel paging request at address C0000010 |
345 | Oops: 0002 | |
346 | EIP: 0010:XXXXXXXX | |
347 | eax: xxxxxxxx ebx: xxxxxxxx ecx: xxxxxxxx edx: xxxxxxxx | |
348 | esi: xxxxxxxx edi: xxxxxxxx ebp: xxxxxxxx | |
349 | ds: xxxx es: xxxx fs: xxxx gs: xxxx | |
350 | Pid: xx, process nr: xx | |
351 | xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx | |
1da177e4 LT |
352 | |
353 | or similar kernel debugging information on your screen or in your | |
354 | system log, please duplicate it *exactly*. The dump may look | |
355 | incomprehensible to you, but it does contain information that may | |
356 | help debugging the problem. The text above the dump is also | |
357 | important: it tells something about why the kernel dumped code (in | |
a6144bb9 | 358 | the above example, it's due to a bad kernel pointer). More information |
8c27ceff | 359 | on making sense of the dump is in Documentation/admin-guide/oops-tracing.rst |
1da177e4 LT |
360 | |
361 | - If you compiled the kernel with CONFIG_KALLSYMS you can send the dump | |
44b10006 | 362 | as is, otherwise you will have to use the ``ksymoops`` program to make |
620034c8 JJ |
363 | sense of the dump (but compiling with CONFIG_KALLSYMS is usually preferred). |
364 | This utility can be downloaded from | |
365 | ftp://ftp.<country>.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/ . | |
6d12760c | 366 | Alternatively, you can do the dump lookup by hand: |
1da177e4 LT |
367 | |
368 | - In debugging dumps like the above, it helps enormously if you can | |
369 | look up what the EIP value means. The hex value as such doesn't help | |
370 | me or anybody else very much: it will depend on your particular | |
371 | kernel setup. What you should do is take the hex value from the EIP | |
44b10006 | 372 | line (ignore the ``0010:``), and look it up in the kernel namelist to |
1da177e4 LT |
373 | see which kernel function contains the offending address. |
374 | ||
375 | To find out the kernel function name, you'll need to find the system | |
376 | binary associated with the kernel that exhibited the symptom. This is | |
377 | the file 'linux/vmlinux'. To extract the namelist and match it against | |
44b10006 | 378 | the EIP from the kernel crash, do:: |
1da177e4 | 379 | |
3773b454 | 380 | nm vmlinux | sort | less |
1da177e4 LT |
381 | |
382 | This will give you a list of kernel addresses sorted in ascending | |
383 | order, from which it is simple to find the function that contains the | |
384 | offending address. Note that the address given by the kernel | |
385 | debugging messages will not necessarily match exactly with the | |
386 | function addresses (in fact, that is very unlikely), so you can't | |
387 | just 'grep' the list: the list will, however, give you the starting | |
388 | point of each kernel function, so by looking for the function that | |
389 | has a starting address lower than the one you are searching for but | |
390 | is followed by a function with a higher address you will find the one | |
391 | you want. In fact, it may be a good idea to include a bit of | |
392 | "context" in your problem report, giving a few lines around the | |
cfaf790f | 393 | interesting one. |
1da177e4 LT |
394 | |
395 | If you for some reason cannot do the above (you have a pre-compiled | |
396 | kernel image or similar), telling me as much about your setup as | |
8c27ceff | 397 | possible will help. Please read the :ref:`admin-guide/reporting-bugs.rst <reportingbugs>` |
44b10006 | 398 | document for details. |
1da177e4 | 399 | |
6d12760c | 400 | - Alternatively, you can use gdb on a running kernel. (read-only; i.e. you |
1da177e4 | 401 | cannot change values or set break points.) To do this, first compile the |
44b10006 MCC |
402 | kernel with -g; edit arch/x86/Makefile appropriately, then do a ``make |
403 | clean``. You'll also need to enable CONFIG_PROC_FS (via ``make config``). | |
1da177e4 | 404 | |
44b10006 | 405 | After you've rebooted with the new kernel, do ``gdb vmlinux /proc/kcore``. |
1da177e4 | 406 | You can now use all the usual gdb commands. The command to look up the |
44b10006 | 407 | point where your system crashed is ``l *0xXXXXXXXX``. (Replace the XXXes |
1da177e4 LT |
408 | with the EIP value.) |
409 | ||
44b10006 | 410 | gdb'ing a non-running kernel currently fails because ``gdb`` (wrongly) |
1da177e4 | 411 | disregards the starting offset for which the kernel is compiled. |