_ RU.LINUX (2:5077/15.22) ___________________________________________ RU.LINUX _
From : Boris Tobotras 2:5020/510 30 Jun 97 21:06:00
Subj : linux-kernel FAQ (1/2)
________________________________________________________________________________
Newsgroups: RU.LINUX
Subject: linux-kernel FAQ
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[1]
$Revision: 1.20 $
CONTENTS
[2]0. Introduction
[3]1. The kernel mailing list
[4]1.1. How do I get off of this mailing list ???
[5]1.2. Topic
[6]1.3. Off-topic
[7]1.4. Etiquette
[8]1.4.1. Questions
[9]1.4.2. Answers
[10]1.5. Bug Reports
[11]1.6. Kernel patches
[12]1.7. Be ready to get spammed
[13]2. On- and off-line resources
[14]2.1. Kernel resources
[15]2.1.1. The Linux Kernel HOWTO - How to compile a kernel
[16]2.1.2. Linux v2 Information HQ
[17]2.1.3. The kernel hackers guide
[18]2.1.4 LXR
[19]2.1.5 Mailing lists
[20]2.1.6. Writing device drivers
[21]2.1.7. The Linux Wish List
[22]2.1.8. Periodicals
[23]2.1.9. Books
[24]2.1.10. Classes
[25]2.2. Other points of interest
[26]2.2.1. The Linux Home Page
[27]2.2.2. The Linux documentation project
[28]2.2.3. The Linux Software Map
[29]2.2.4. IRC
[30]2.2.5. Linux news groups
[31]2.2.6. Linux Gazette
[32]2.2.7. Other URLs
[33]3. The kernel
[34]3.1. Common problems
[35]3.1.1. What do I need to do to make to activate a kernel feature?
[36]3.1.2. Before you dive into it
[37]3.1.3. File system corruption
[38]3.1.4. Signal 11
[39]3.1.5. Seasonal Problems
[40]3.1.5.1. Warning: possible SYN flooding. Sending cookies.
[41]3.1.5.2. Kernel hangs after "Now booting the kernel ..."
[42]3.1.5.3. Ignoring P6 Local APIC Spurious Interrupt Bug
[43]3.1.5.4. nfs warning: mount version older than kernel
[44]3.1.5.5. Objdump problems ... can't compile a zImage
[45]3.1.5.6. New kernels block in the fcntl() call
[46]3.1.5.7. Sockets getting stuck in close()
[47]3.1.5.8. AMD K6 fails at high clock rates
[48]3.1.5.9. Less than 4MB RAM
[49]3.1.5.10. Martian Packets
[50]3.2. Is there ... ?
[51]3.2.1 ... an encrypted file system?
[52]3.2.2 ... a kernel suitable for embedding?
[53]3.2.3 ... a kernel regression test suite?
[54]3.2.4. ... a decent auto mounter?
[55]3.2.5. ... an ACL implementation?
[56]3.2.6. ... a better numbering scheme for SCSI devices?
[57]3.2.7. ... a lofs?
[58]3.2.8. ... Sys V TLI for Linux?
[59]3.2.9. ... a patch that allows for more IP aliases?
[60]3.3. Kernel development
[61]3.3.1. Tips
[62]3.3.1.1. How to find your way around the kernel
[63]3.3.2. How to get started
[64]A. Appendix A - Maintainers
[65]B. Appendix B - Linux Kernel Mailing List Bug Report Form
[66]C. Appendix C - Unresolved Issues
[67]D. Appendix D - Change Log
_________________________________________________________________
0. Introduction
This is the Linux kernel mailing list FAQ and usage policy. It was
intended to be posted to the mailing list regulary. Due to its size,
only section 1 will be posted to the list, the other part is available
on the World Wide Web on [68]<URL:http://kernelfaq.iconsult.com>;. An
older version of this FAQ will be sent to new subscribers of the
kernel mailing list.
The first section contains information about the kernel mailing list.
Please read it before posting to the list to make sure you're using
everyone's time in the most efficient manner.
The FAQ is currently being reworked, the first step being a rough
translation from formatted ASCII to HTML. I'm also considering
following the necessary steps to make it an official USENET FAQ, being
posted to comp.os.linux.answers and the other appropriate *.answers
groups regulary.
I'm sorry for not posting the document to the mailing list in june, I
didn't want to post the full 60k document anymore and my 'real world'
work kept me from making an updated version.
1. The kernel mailing list
1.1. How do I get off of this mailing list ???
Send mail containing "unsubscribe linux-kernel" (without the quote
marks) in the body of the message (not the subject line) to
[email protected].
(echo "unsubscribe linux-kernel" | mail [email protected])
If that doesn't work you probably are subscribed using another email
address than the one you're using now. In that case the first thing to
do is to find out the email address you subscribed with. (You're on
your own here, but your system administrator might help you by
checking the mail transfer agent's log files)
When you found out the address use:
(echo "unsubscribe linux-kernel" "the address you subscribed with"
| mail [email protected])
By the way, a small tip for mailing lists in general: On some mailing
lists the "unsubscribe <list> <address>" syntax doesn't work. In that
case use Netscape Navigator to send a mail with faked sender address:
Enter your "address you subscribed with" in Netscape's "Options/Mail
and News preferences/Your Email" field, fill in your current address
in the "Reply-to Address" and send the unsubscribe mail from Netscape.
Normally the mailing list software will believe the faked "From:"
field in the mail.
1.2. Topic
This list discusses Linux kernel development. All submissions relevant
to that, such as bug reports, enhancement ideas, kernel patches or
reports that a patch fixed a bug are appropriate. Please note the
emphasis on kernel development as opposed to development of Linux
systems in general.
1.3. Off-topic
Please do not ask basic installation or non-kernel related
configuration questions on this list. If you are unclear of the
distinction between the Linux kernel and other parts of a Linux
system, please do not post here until you have learned somewhere else;
just have a look at the Linux resources in Section 2 of this document.
In particular, if you don't know the difference between XFree86 and
the Linux kernel, please do not ask about it here. (If you don't know
what I'm talking about, this means you.)
1.4. Etiquette
As Linux grows in popularity, it is inevitable that subscriptions to
the list will greatly increase. The list is already quite large and
beginning to suffer from the classic Usenet signal to noise ratio
problem. Reading the list daily gives a sense of involvement and
excitement at being so close to the cutting edge of a compelling and
rapidly evolving technology. It is important to note that your post
will go out to many, many people and that "send" key is so very
close... A good idea to consider: "My opinions really don't matter,
but my _code_ most certainly does!" Please help us to prove that this
list can scale well to such a large audience.
1.4.1. Questions
Before posting a question to this list, think twice about whether it
is indeed kernel-related. Perhaps another newsgroup or mailing list is
better suited for the question. See Section 2 for a list of on-line
resources.
In any event have a quick look at the Documentation/Changes file, and
ensure that your software is up-to-date. Sometimes things change
within the kernel which stop user-level code from working. You'll feel
a little silly if the answer to the problem is in the documentation
that comes with the kernel, but you just didn't read it.
A good strategy is to wait a day after writing something before
posting. The very same information may hit the list during that time,
especially if the problem you are experiencing is one which many
people will find (e.g., "ps and top have stopped working!"). Probably
someone else will ask about it too; there's nothing more annoying than
seeing the same question on the list over and over again.
1.4.2. Answers
Before posting an answer to this list, also think twice! When
off-topic mail arrives (e.g., "I can't build the kernel", "how do I
convert ASCII to EBCDIC" or "Make money fast"), it is best to answer
directly (i.e., off this list). Despite our best efforts, these
questions will always appear; there is no easy way to avoid this
without moving away from creative anarchy. Dumb questions are at least
a positive sign of usage and growth. We all hate spam, but flaming to
the list just makes it worse.
Before you post an answer to a legitimate question, think twice again.
If possible try to give an answer that might help more people than the
original poster. For example posting generic strategies helps a lot of
people (especially newbies). Some great examples of such posts by
Cameron McKinnon (how to get started) and Doug Ledford (on extfs
problems) have ended up in this document.
I know all those 'think twice' are more easily said than done, but
remember _everyone_ that even tries to think will make the kernel
mailing list a more enjoyable place for all.
"Most people think about twice a year. I got famous by thinking once a
week." - George B. Shaw (see Appendix A)
1.5. Bug Reports
There are a few things to consider before reporting kernel error
messages:
Try to have a clue
A good rule of thumb that applies to everything in life - even to
linux kernel development. Think of things that might be of interest to
the developers, things that are redundant. Find out how other people's
report bugs look and what the reaction in the list is.
The developers don't have access to your system.
This means they don't have much information on how your kernel was
built, which addresses certain routines were compiled to or which
hardware you run. To get a rough idea what information might be
relevant to the developers read the following paragraphs, then have a
look at the bug report form and data collection shell script in
Appendix B.
The most complicated thing to do is to add symbolic information to
your kernel error message. Once (back in the good old days) this was
quite an ordeal, but with modern klogd/syslogd install this gets quite
easy. Make sure your kernel's System.map is installed in the right
place (/boot/System.map, /System.map or /usr/src/linux/System.map) and
from now on klogd will automatically add symbolic information to the
kernel messages it logs. See 'man klogd' to check whether the version
of klogd you run does already support that feature.
For similar functionality look at the ksymoops program in the kernel
source tree, which can be used when klogd/syslogd logged a 'raw'
kernel Oops.. message to your disk (or if you copied it down by hand,
because the system froze before being able to write to the hard disk.)
When symbolic information is added to the report you'll have to
provide everything else relevant to the problem. A general rule of
thumb is: Too much information won't hurt, not enough will. Be sure to
include at least some general description of your hardware like
processor, RAM, how many and what kind of disks, disk controllers
(IDE? SCSI?) and expansion board. In particular, make sure you mention
which kernel you are trying to use. Use the bug report form and data
collection shell script from Appendix B.
If you feel you should include your .config file, please send the
output of "grep '^[^#]' .config" instead of the whole thing, as this
saves a lot of wasted space.
The developers are busy developing
Often the developers are so busy developing, they will read your mail
but not have the time to answer it. While you might say 'it does not
take much time to answer an email' you might overlook the fact that
* Message split, to be continued *
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_ RU.LINUX (2:5077/15.22) ___________________________________________ RU.LINUX _
From : Boris Tobotras 2:5020/510 30 Jun 97 21:06:00
Subj : [part 2] linux-kernel FAQ (1/2)
________________________________________________________________________________
* Continuation 1 of a split message *
developers often get flooded with email, so much that they get
nightmares about it. Answering an email does in fact not take much
time, answering 100 emails does.
Trying to help the developers makes the bug vanish faster ...
If you like to be of great help to the developers you might find out
if other people have the same problem. Finding the general patterns of
a bug is a job that does not take months, and it is a job that you can
perform if you have never seen a single line of C source.
Try to find some conditions that reliably trigger the problem, this
includes asking other people if they have similar problems. If yes,
which hard- and software do they use? For example you might find out
your ext2fs file system errors are limited to users of the brand xyz
SCSI controller Mark 42. _Such_ a result will alert the developer of
the xyz SCSI driver, while a message like 'My ext2fs got bad! Linux
sucks!' probably won't.
Try to reach the appropriate people.
Sometimes it is better to communicate to the developers directly by
email instead of posting to the mailing list. See the MAINTAINERS file
in the Linux source tree to find out the maintainer for a specific
Linux subsystem. In addition, there are a number of mailing lists for
specific parts of the kernel (e.g. scsi, net, etc.); you might want to
join those lists as well, since that is where the experts hang out.
1.6. Kernel patches
A little bit of consideration first: If possible create patches that
change _one_ thing in the kernel. Doing so enables people to choose
which part of your changes they use (or even include in the
distribution kernel.) While your SCSI driver fixes might be perfectly
sane, people might not like your change to the network layers changing
network addresses from being big-endian to little-endian.
Always use unified (-u) diff format when submitting kernel patches.
The unified diff format is very readable and allows 'reverse'
application for undoing a patch (which is extremely useful when the
patch provider 'diffed' the sources the wrong way round). Oh, and
don't uuencode patches, but keep them in textual format that is
readable right there in the messages. If the patch is real big then
post the URL of the patch.
Assuming you have two source trees of the _same_ version of Linux, an
original one {original-source-tree} and one with your personal changes
{your-source-tree}, the recommended procedure for creating patch files
is:
$ make -C {original-source-tree} distclean
$ make -C {your-source-tree} distclean
$ diff -urN {original-source-tree} {your-source-tree} >/tmp/linux-patch
The patch file will then be in /tmp/linux-patch waiting to be deployed
on the Linux kernel mailing list. When posting your patch, don't
forget to mention what it does.
Of course you need to set up two identical source directories to be
able to diff the tree later. A nice trick -- it requires a little bit
of consideration, though -- is to create the 'your-source-tree' from
hard links to the 'original-source-tree':
$ tar xzvf linux-2.1.anything.tar.gz
$ mv linux linux-2.1.anything.orig
$ cp -av --link linux-2.1.anything.orig linux-2.1.anything
This will hardlink every source file from the original tree to a new
location; it is very fast, since it does not need to create more than
20 megabytes of files.
You can now apply patches to the linux-2.1.anything source tree, since
patch does not change the original files but move them to
<filename>.orig, so the contents of the hard-linked file will not be
changed.
Assuming that your editor does the same thing, too (moving original
files to backup files before writing out changed ones) you can freely
edit within the hardlinked tree.
Now the changed tree can be diffed at high speed, since most files
don't just have identical contents, they are identical files in both
trees. Naturally removing that tree is quite fast, too.
Thanks to Janos Farkas <URL:mailto:[email protected]> for that
trick.
1.7. Be ready to get spammed
Some "nice guys" are obviously monitoring the kernel mailing list to
get email addresses. Every time I post to the mailing list I get a
bunch of "Earn $800 a week extra income" mails. Be ready to ignore or
handle this (maybe using procmail).
- --- cut here for mailing list version ---
2. On- and off-line resources
If you think something should be listed here, please send an e-mail to
the current list maintainer ([69]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>).
Resources will be listed in "URL embedded in text file" syntax to ease
transition to these resources.
2.1. Kernel resources
2.1.1. The Linux Kernel HOWTO - How to compile a kernel
You definitely ought to look at this unless you can cite every line of
the kernel Makefile from memory.
This document describes how to obtain, unpack, compile and install a
new kernel and shows some of the pitfalls that lurk on the road of
upgrading.
[70]<URL:http://www.caldera.com/LDP/Kernel-HOWTO.html>;
[71]<URL:http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/Kernel-HOWTO.html>;
If you are looking for all the other HOWTOS and mini-HOWTOS just check
out LDP itself:
[72]<URL:http://www.caldera.com/LDP/>;
[73]<URL:http://sunsite.unc-edu/LDP/>;
2.1.2. Linux v2 Information HQ
[74]<URL:http://www.linuxhq.com>;
A very useful site that lists Linux V2 information including, but not
limited to, "what's new", "how to upgrade", source code, official and
unofficial kernel patches for V2.0 and V2.1 and archives of the Linux
mailing lists. Two thumbs up.
Please note that the old URL [75]<URL:http://www.ecsnet.com>; for now
is deprecated, so please update your bookmarks to reflect the new
location.
2.1.3. The kernel hackers guide
[76]<URL:http://www.redhat.com:8080/HyperNews/get/khg.html>
Once upon a time it was a paper document but due to the 'moving
target' nature of a constantly developed kernel it is now completely
web-based, using a hyper-news system so users can add input.
2.1.4 LXR
[77]<URL:http://lxr.linux.no>;
LXR is the application of a cross reference tool currently being
developed to the Linux kernel source. The main features are:
* Comprehensive cross-indexing
* Freetext search (using glimpse)
* Support for multiple versions/architectures
* On-the-fly diff-generation
* Updated sources
2.1.5 Mailing lists
As mentioned above, there are a number of more specialized Linux
mailing lists. Many of these are run from vger.rutgers.edu. To get a
listing of those running at vger, send an e-mail to
[78]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>, containing the single
word "lists". Some of the lists are mentioned in the MAINTAINERS file
in the Linux source code.
A lot of mailing lists are archived at the Linux v2 Information HQ
[79]<URL:http://www.linuxhq.com/lnxlists>;.
Having a close look at the linux-admin list would be worth-wile. Many
of the off-topic questions on linux-kernel are appropriate for
linux-admin and the latter list seems to be pretty well behaved. The
admin list is approaching the amount of traffic on the kernel list.
2.1.6. Writing device drivers
[80]<URL:http://www.redhat.com/~johnsonm/devices.html>;
A paper of a talk by Michael K. Johnson given at Spring DECUS'95.
According to the author this is probably a bit dated but might be
still worth reading.
2.1.7. The Linux Wish List
[81]<URL:http://www.cs.uml.edu/~acahalan/linux/wishlist.html>;
The Linux Wish List, compiled from the contents of the kernel mailing
list. Check this before posting enhancement requests to the mailing
list or to get some inspiration for your kernel project.
2.1.8. Periodicals
Linux Journal
[82]<URL:http://www.ssc.com/lj/>;
Linux Journal has had a long-running series of articles called Kernel
Korner which, has had quite a bit useful information in it. Four
articles on writing runtime-loadable character device drivers in
issues 23 - 26 have been made available on Linux Journal's WWW Site:
[83]<URL:http://www.ssc.com/lj/issue23/1219.html>;
[84]<URL:http://www.ssc.com/lj/issue24/kk24.html>;
[85]<URL:http://www.ssc.com/lj/issue25/kk25.html>;
[86]<URL:http://www.ssc.com/lj/issue26/interrupt.html>;
2.1.9. Books
There aren't any book reviews in this section, just pointers to those.
First you might want to look at Cameron McKinnon's article on getting
started with kernel development, which also mentions some books.
The next place to stop is the Linux Reading List Mini-HOWTO, which
although being a bit dated list a lot of the books useful to kernel
programmers:
[87]<URL:http://www.caldera.com/LDP/HOWTO/mini/Reading-List>;
[88]<URL:http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/Reading-List>;
Cameron McKinnon's Article mentions 'The Magic Garden Explained',
here's some more information about it:
Author: Goodheart, Berny
Full Title: The Magic Garden Explained, the internal of UNIX
System V Release 4, an open system design, Berny Goodheart and
James Cox
Publisher: Prentice-Hall (New York)
Released: 1994
Programmation Linux 2.0 - API systeme et fonctionnement du noyau
de Remy Card, Eric Dumas et Franck Mevel Editions Eyrolles
It was mentioned this is a very good book, unfortunatley it is not
available in english. It discusses all the kernel behaviour and
structures (based on 2.0.X) with many bits of sources. It
discusses the API system, too.
Linux Kernel Internals, by Beck, Bohme, Dziadzka, Kunitz, Magnua
and Verworner, Addison-Wesley
ISBN: 0-201-87741-4.
This one is more a description of the kernel internals. It makes
some assumptions about what you already know about OSes. It
requires some experience with C.
Inside Linux, by Bentson, SSC, ISBN: 0-916151-89-1
This one is a lot less technical, but does not assume as much
previous knowledge
2.1.10. Classes
This class teaches TCP and web server internals using the Linux kernel
and the Apache web server. I thought it was neat, and the set of
references are rather interesting in particular if you are interested
in research that has been done on web server performance.
[89]<URL:http://www.cs.bu.edu/faculty/djy/cs835-fall96.html>;
Answered by David S. Miller [90]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>
2.2. Other points of interest
2.2.1. The Linux Home Page
[91]<URL:http://www.linux.org>;
A very good starting point for the new and old Linux user. It contains
many starting points including information on the history and creation
of Linux, FAQ's and HOWTOs, Linux Software Map, Manual Pages, Usenet
Newsgroups, Where To Get Linux, Linux Documentation Map, Linux
International, Linux On The World Wide Web, Hot Linux News, Linux
Gazette, and Linux Journal.
2.2.2. The Linux documentation project
The Linux documentation project:
[92]<URL:http://www.caldera.com/LDP>;
[93]<URL:http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP>;
The LDP contains _loads_ of Linux documentation, including, but not
limited to the HOWTOS, FAQs, man pages and various guides.
2.2.3. The Linux Software Map
There are a few different web frontends for the Linux Software Map:
[94]<URL:http://www.ssc.com/linux/lsm.html>;
[95]<URL:http://www.ngs.fi/lsm>;
[96]<URL:http://www.boutell.com/lsm>;
If you prefer downloading the whole database and browsing it offline
get it at:
[97]<URL:ftp://ftp.execpc.com/pub/lsm/>;
2.2.4. IRC
There is said to be online support on IRC, namely servers
irc.linpeople.org (207.16.36.11) or vinge.linpeople.org. Look for the
channels #help or #natter.
An IRC client is required to connect to the many IRC networks
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_ RU.LINUX (2:5077/15.22) ___________________________________________ RU.LINUX _
From : Boris Tobotras 2:5020/510 30 Jun 97 21:06:00
Subj : [part 3] linux-kernel FAQ (1/2)
________________________________________________________________________________
* Continuation 2 of a split message *
available on the Internet. A good place to find IRC clients is:
[98]<URL:ftp://cs-pub.bu.edu/pub/irc/clients>;
2.2.5. Linux news groups
* [99]<URL:news:comp.os.linux.advocacy>
Benefits of Linux compared to other operating systems
* [100]<URL:news:comp.os.linux.announce>
Announcements important to the Linux community. (Moderated)
* [101]<URL:news:comp.os.linux.answers>
FAQs, HOWTOs, READMEs, etc. about Linux. (Moderated)
* [102]<URL:news:comp.os.linux.development.apps>
Writing Linux applications, porting to Linux
* [103]<URL:news:comp.os.linux.development.system>
Linux kernels, device drivers, modules
* [104]<URL:news:comp.os.linux.hardware>
Hardware compatibility with the Linux operating system
* [105]<URL:news:comp.os.linux.m68k>
Linux operating system on 680x0 Amiga, Atari, VME
* [106]<URL:news:comp.os.linux.misc>
Linux-specific topics not covered by other groups
* [107]<URL:news:comp.os.linux.networking>
Networking and communications under Linux
* [108]<URL:news:comp.os.linux.setup>
Linux installation and system administration
* [109]<URL:news:comp.os.linux.x>
Linux X Window System servers, clients, libs and fonts
2.2.6. Linux Gazette
[110]<URL:http://www.ssc.com/lg>;
The Linux Gazette is a monthly compilation of basic tips, tricks,
suggestions, ideas, and short articles about Linux designed to make
using Linux fun and easy. LG began as a personal project of John M.
Fisk, and grew to include contributions freely provided by a growing
number of authors.
2.2.7. Other URLs
* Linux kernel
[111]<URL:ftp://ftp.cs.helsinki.fi/pub/Software/Linux/Kernel/>;
* Linux on the web [112]<URL:http://www.ssc.com/linux/web.html>;
* Sunsite Linux archive [113]<URL:http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/>;
* Find new files on Sunsite
[114]<URL:http://sunsite.unc.edu/paulc/incoming.html>;
* Linux kernel change summary
[115]<URL:http://www.crynwr.com/kchanges/>;
* Linux Source Navigator
[116]<URL:http://sunsite.unc.edu/linux-source>;
* Linux archive search [117]<URL:http://torgo.ml.org/las>;
* Linux network drivers
[118]<URL:http://cesdis1.gsfc.nasa.gov:80/linux/drivers/>
* Linux SMP project
[119]<URL:http://www.uk.linux.org/SMP/title.html>;
* Linux NOW! [120]<URL:http://www.linuxnow.com>;
* Linux applications and utilities page
[121]<URL:http://www.xnet.com/~blatura/linapps.shtml>;
* Woven goods for linux - a collection of WWW applications and
hypertext-based information about Linux.
[122]<URL:http://www.fokus.gmd.de/linux>;
3. The kernel
3.1. Common problems
3.1.1. What do I need to do to make to activate a kernel feature?
This is a quite frequent question, but one that is quite easily
answered: Typically such features will be listed in the Changes file
or elsewhere in the Documentation directory. If not documented there,
the feature probably is in early stages of development (or old and
badly maintained) so it is not suitable for public consumption. In the
latter case look at the source, the the Maintainers file or the
Resources Section of this document, since many brand new kernel
features have specialized discussion forums.
3.1.2. Before you dive into it
Read up on all strategies for error recovery. Your file system
corruption might be caused by the same problem that causes another
user's Signal 11 trouble; a kernel is a complex piece of software, and
errors happening in the kernel or in hardware below might cause every
thinkable and unthinkable kind of problem. Errors propagate in
unforseeable ways. There are hardware problems which show up only on
Linux while Win95, NT, OS/2, Doom and Quake run fine on the same
computer. You are dealing with software handling hardware, this is
extremely complex and right next to black magic. Flipping one bit of
memory in the kernel creates strange results, just like adding a drop
of tabasco sauce to a witches cauldron might make her conjure up a
horde of croaking frogs instead of the (by her) desired white prince.
3.1.3. File system corruption
"On a block device (block size 1024 bytes) with ext2fs, I don't
reliably get back from a file what I first wrote in."
Normally any kind of file system corruption is a sign of hardware
problems or problems with a low level I/O driver. Ext2fs is a quite
tested and stable file system, but due to its high performance it is
likely to dig out problems in the lower levels of the system.
When I experienced ext2fs file system corruption myself, a query on
the linux newsgroups showed others had experienced similar problems.
It turned out to be a firmware problem in the Conner CFP1060S hard
drive, when data was read _really fast_ the buffer cache algorithm in
the drive firmware failed.
There are a lot of things to try when you get ext2fs corruption:
tune2fs
Use tune2fs to set your file system to drop into read only mode when
an error occurs. This will prevent small errors causing catastrophes.
The command is:
tune2fs -e remount-ro /dev/???
You should also use that command to set a time interval between file
systems checks, because (especially on long running servers) it can
take eons to reach the maximum mount count.
Check the partition tables
Especially on the Intel x86 platform partition tables can easily be
broken. Such a problem can occur when the drives were partitioned
using another disk controller than they are used with. Use fdisk dump
the tables and ensure partitions are set up correctly.
System tuning
Tune Linux and your BIOS to slow and safe parameters. Turn off bus
(PCI) optimizations.
Search for the point of failure
Use an empty partition to check if the problem lurks in the kernel
levels below the file system. Probably the most simple test is to copy
/dev/zero to the partition (using dd) and comparing the partition and
/dev/zero afterwards (using cmp) if there are any differences.
A very thorough test has been suggested on the mailing list by Doug
Ledford [123]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>:
"I'll go one step further with this. I would recommend that the people
having problems with ext2fs corruption run the following test (if
possible):
Let's say you have a hard drive partition of decent size that you
don't mind losing the data on (or even if you do mind, this test can
turn up a lot of errors so if you have an inconvenient way of getting
back, then you should probably do this anyway)
First, get the exact size of the partition (or the whole drive as the
case may be in some circumstances) in 1K blocks.
Divide this total number of blocks into 4 equal chunks (most drives do
this easily, some may have a few odd sized chunks).
Write a script like this:
badblocks -w -s -b 1024 -o /tmp/list.1 /dev/??? (blocks * .25) 0 &
badblocks -w -s -b 1024 -o /tmp/list.2 /dev/??? (blocks * .5) (blocks *
.25) &
badblocks -w -s -b 1024 -o /tmp/list.3 /dev/??? (blocks * .75) (blocks
* .5) &
badblocks -w -s -b 1024 -o /tmp/list.4 /dev/??? (blocks) (blocks * .75)
&
A simple shell script like this will run four simultaneous badblocks
programs on the drive. A person can then check the files in the /tmp
directory to see if any were returned as bad. With modern IDE or SCSI
drives, all of these files should have a zero length unless one of two
things is true. One, you have a drive developing too many bad sectors
to be mapped out (which is cause for alarm in itself) or two, you have
corruption in your low level driver (or other low level hardware such
as memory or cache or bus transfer problems). If these test return all
0 length files, then we should start looking elsewhere for the
problem. Run the test several times, as a single pass may not show the
problem. If you are really courageous, you can try doubling the tests
by splitting the drive into 8 equal chunks (or if you have two drives
you can do both drives at four chunks each at the same time). This is
a standard test I use with the aic7xxx driver to find problems with
tagged queueing and high commands per lun values. It seems to show
problems much quicker than any file system activity would (in my case,
I had as many as 24 of these running simultaneously on 6 drives in
order to test this out, talk about a dog slow machine, it took about 5
minutes just to start X windows under this load).
In any case, running tests like these to rule out hardware corruption
would help greatly in increasing the level of confidence that somehow
the ext2fs layer is at fault (which I personally don't think it is
except under very rare occasions since I have a hard hit news server
running that file system without problems, but I've taken the care and
gone to the lengths to run these tests on the particular hardware in
that machine and identified bad combinations that can cause problems
and worked around them at the driver level)."
Later on Doug followed up to another article on the ext2fs corruption
thread:
"Correct. And it's very useful information to have at that. If you can
produce corruption problems without going through the ext2fs code,
then you have hardware corruption of some sort. An example of some of
the things in the past that I have personally seen cause hardware
corruption which made one *THINK* that something was wrong with the
ext2fs code when there wasn't:
1. Bad CPU fans on pentium and high speed 486 machines
2. Bad SCSI cables
3. Memory timing settings in BIOS being just a tad too aggressive
4. Bad memory
5. Bad Pipeline Burst (or other) cache
6. Too long of a SCSI or IDE cable
7. Interference between SCSI and IDE cables running in close
proximity to each other
8. Flaky CPU (had been overclocked and partially burnt out)
9. Esoteric BIOS options being enabled when they shouldn't be (this
takes some experimentation to find and fix, a change BIOS
settings, test to see if problem is gone, if not, reboot and
change settings again type thing)
These are a few examples. A second thing to keep in mind is that the
ext2fs is a rather fast filesystem by unix standards (it beats the
hell out of the EAFS HTFS DTFS etc filesystems from SCO, but who's
comparing SCO to linux anyway :) so if you have hardware corruption
problems that don't show up except under heavy load, ext2fs is a good
filesystem to bring those out :)
And of course, the very reason I posted my original email as part of
this thread. A person needs to always keep in mind that if they are
getting ext2fs errors about corruption, this does *NOT* always mean
the ext2fs is at fault. It means that somewhere along the way, either
due to code in the ext2fs, or code in the block driver you are using,
or code in the low level driver you are using, or somewhere between
the CPU, RAM, cache, bus, controller, drive bus, drive, and magnetic
media, something is getting corrupted. It is important in these cases
to try and isolate software faults from hardware faults.
The purpose of the "script" I posted was to give a convenient way of
trying to narrow down the line between hardware and software. There is
still software involved with that script, but not as much. You are
down to just the badblocks program, the various buffer mechanisms, and
the block driver itself (with its underlying low level driver).
Generally speaking, the buffer cache is considered to be safe code, so
you can rule that out. Most of the block drivers are considered to be
the same, so they can be ruled out. This leaves the underlying low
level driver and the badblocks program as suspect. The badblocks
* Message split, to be continued *
--- Gnus v5.4.37/XEmacs 19.15 * Origin: Linux inside (2:5020/510@fidonet)
_ RU.LINUX (2:5077/15.22) ___________________________________________ RU.LINUX _
From : Boris Tobotras 2:5020/510 30 Jun 97 21:06:16
Subj : linux-kernel FAQ (2/2)
________________________________________________________________________________
arch/i386/boot/compressed/misc.c, same thing. (after make dep clean
zImage)
I had this problem. You just need to update loadlin to 1.6a version.
[vps@hydroel]~$ grep loadlin /usr/src/linux/Documentation/Changes
detection, requiring loadlin users to upgrade to loadlin-1.6a.
[137]<URL:ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/loadlin/update-1.6a/loadlin.exe.gz>;
[138]<URL:ftp://elserv.ffm.fgan.de/pub/linux/loadlin-1.6/update-1.6a/l
oadlin.exe.gz>
Answered by Pawel S. Veselov [139]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>
3.1.5.10. Martian Packets
I am getting the following message in my logs, but only when someone
is accessing the Linux machine via telnet from another network
machine. (dev eth0).
Jun 17 06:22:37 newn kernel: martian source 01010101 for 024100c7, dev
eth0
Jun 17 06:22:37 newn kernel: ll header: 00 40 05 1d 34 9c 00 a0 24 ac
18 35 08 00
Someone on your network believes that he has IP address 1.1.1.1. It is
unlikely to be correct, is not it? This "someone" has ethernet address
00:a0:24:ac:18:35.
Answered by A.N.Kuznetsov [140]<URL:[email protected]>
3.2. Is there ... ?
3.2.1 ... an encrypted file system?
"I have recently found a need for an encrypted fs, I have however had
trouble finding any ones that meet my needs. Is anyone currently
working on any encrypted file systems, and if not would anyone be
interested on working on one with me?"
check out cfs (crypted filesystem) which does things nfs-like, and for
the loop device within linux:
[141]<URL:ftp://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/pub/linux-stego/index.html>;
Answered by [email protected]
3.2.2 ... a kernel suitable for embedding?
I've got a 68HC360 based device that is being developed and we are
looking into O/S options. Has anyone done work towards slimming the
kernel for embedding in small memory footprint devices?
These Web sites are HOT! Er, may be relevant, I mean.
* Memory Savers
[142]<URL:http://rsphy1.anu.edu.au/~gpg109/mem.html>;
* ELKS - The Embeddable Linux Kernel subset
[143]<URL:http://www.linux.org.uk/Linux8086.html>;
* The Linux/m68k Home Pages
[144]<URL:http://www.clark.net/pub/lawrencc/linux/>;
Answered by Trevor Johnson [145]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>
3.2.3 ... a kernel regression test suite?
No, not yet, but people seem to be very interested in that. Anyone who
starts such a project might have a look at the following resource:
[146]<URL:http://www.itl.nist.gov/div897/ctg>;
Posix conformance test suite, for detecting strange behaviour
Other program suggested for a kernel test suite are stress tools, such
as lmbench, crashme, bonnie, fork bombs, NFS stress tools and tty
stress tools. (ttystress might need a null modem adapter)
3.2.4. ... a decent auto mounter?
You can still use amd if you want, but if you want to use autofs, get
the tools from
[147]<URL:ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/daemons/autofs>;; there is a
mailing list too that you probably want to subscribe to.
Please note that autofs is currently not very featureful; although we
do use what there is so far in a production environment here at
Transmeta.
3.2.5. ... an ACL implementation?
Well, as the "maintainer" of the Linux ACL project, I suppose it's my
job to announce to everyone that I've hacked (remember that word)
together a quick design spec. I've also put up a small set of the code
for everyone to take a look at. Now...as I said, the spec is a real
hack job (done for a class where paperwork is everything...), and I'd
appreciate any feedback I can get on it. The code too is a combination
of Artem Belevich's (the old maintainer) work and my own. I haven't
had time to really get it all pretty yet, so if anyone wants to
contribute some effort it would be welcome. All this said...
design spec:
[148]<URL:http://www.dwc.edu/users/frival/acl/acldesign.html>;
basic code: [149]<URL:http://www.dwc.edu/users/frival/acl/acl.c>;
I'll be posting a diff to the latest kernel version as soon as I get a
chance to update my working set (should be around 2.1.94 or so ;-) Any
feedback/thoughts are more than welcome.
And in a later article:
Well, as I've been promising, I finally got around to setting up a
list for the ACL project. As far as I know, no one else has already
set one up. Anyway, the address is, amazingly enough,
<[email protected]>. It's a majordomo list, so subscription etc. is
just like with vger (I hope...).
Announce by Peter Rival [150]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>
3.2.6. ... a better numbering scheme for SCSI devices?
If we do that, we definitely have to adopt something like the Solaris
/dev/dsk/c0t0d0s3 scheme. It gets really tiring trying to outguess
what the kernel is going to name a new disk when it's put online.
Eric Youngdale wrote a nice utility which does exactly this! Try
scsidev. I couldn't live without it. Not sure why it never caught on
with any of the distributions..
Answered by Steven N. Hirsch [151]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>
(By the way, Eric Youngdale himself considers scsidev a hack, not as a
long term solution. On the other hand, scsidev is said to work nicely
around some current real life problems. -- froh)
3.2.7. ... a lofs?
Now is a very good time to tell me if someone else has already got a
working lofs :-)
I wrote one quite some time ago, and finally made patches against
2.0.30 last week. They're at
[152]<URL:ftp://dot.superaje.com/pub/linux/lofs-2.0.30.diff>; It's not
perfect, but it works. (I do have a fancier 2.1.x version, but it'll
be a while before i get anymore work done on it.)
Answered by Benjamin C R LaHaise
[153]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>
3.2.8. ... Sys V TLI for Linux?
Go to [154]<URL:ftp://ftp.gcom.com/pub/linux/src/streams-3-31-97>; and
there you will find LiS-2.0.25.tar.gz -> this is a full implementation
of STREAMS for Linux, including kernel patches and all... Caldera has
some documentation in the ftp.caldera.com/pub/stuff/LiS-2.0.24.tar.gz
file to help you set it up.
Answered by Yoav Cohen-Sivan [155]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>
3.2.9. ... a patch that allows for more IP aliases?
What is the limit to the number of IPALIASes?
Arbitrary 256 aliases per device (2.0.30), tuned with internal hash
table size. Incoming 2.0.31 has dynamic alias limit, allowing better
hash table sizing, please see
[156]<URL:ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/davem/>; for
2.0.31-pre2 patch (I also upgraded
Documentation/networking/alias.txt).
Answered by Juan Hose Ciarlante
[157]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>
3.3. Kernel development
3.3.1. Tips
3.3.1.1. How to find your way around the kernel
Kernel code includes many include files. Those include files often
include other include files and so on. If I am looking at a variable
name in a *.c file which is in another file, how do I easily find it?
Have a look at the 'etags' or 'ctags' programs. Those programs scan C,
C++, Assembler, Tex and many other source formats and generate 'tags
tables' that tell the emacs or vi editors where symbols are defined.
The programs should be bundled with most Linux distributions.
Also have a look at your nearest sunsite mirror in the /devel/lang/c
directory, there are a lot of other C cross referencing tools in
there.
3.3.2. How to get started
Cameron MacKinnon [158]<URL:mailto:[email protected]> wrote a
wonderful article on that topic:
"... I'm not a pro, but I generally know what's going on for least
part of the time. Here's what I did:
I bought books. Here's reviews: LINUX Kernel Internals, Beck et al,
Addison Wesley, 0-201-87741-4. I read about a third of it. It's dated
(1.2 kernels) and doesn't have anything about SCSI in it, but it's the
only Linux kernel book out there. There's a new version out for 2.0
kernels, but only in the original German. 'The Design and
Implementation of the 4.4 BSD Operating System', McKusick et al,
Addison Wesley, 0-201-54979-4. A much more readable book, IMHO. It
talks about the BSD design in general, why things changed over time,
why and how specific performance tradeoffs were made, etcetera. Also,
'The Magic Garden Explained' or something like that, borrowed, pub.
and ISBN unknown. <See Section 2.1.8 -- froh> This book is a very
thorough coverage of the design of System 5 Release 4 (SVR4), but not
as easy to read as the BSD book. Bottom line: Beg, borrow, check out
or steal one book, any book, on the design of the UNIX operating
system. Sit in a library or a bookstore reading it, if you haven't got
the money. You need to understand how schedulers, pagers, swappers,
top and bottom halves, wait queues, inodes, ttys, the boot process,
init and some other stuff work. Most of this stuff will be applicable
to Linux at the concept level, regardless of the book (ignore anything
on SysV STREAMS). Unless you're extremely gifted, the concepts won't
reveal themselves to you from kernel source code. LEARN THE CONCEPTS.
The Linux community is not a good place to do this - this list assumes
that if you're here, you already know them. If you're one of those
truly unlucky people with no access to such a book, try to find this
info on the net. I've never really looked. If all else fails, proceed
to step two:
I read Michael Johnson's Kernel Hackers' Guide. It wasn't perfect when
I read it, but that was a while ago. 1) It's probably perfect by now.
2) It's free. You can get it anywhere, including here:
[159]<URL:http://www.redhat.com:8080/HyperNews/get/khg.html> It does a
good job of mapping the concepts you just learned to actual kernel
function calls and processes in Linux. Also, many kernel functions
have man pages, though they're horribly out of date.
I subscribed to mailing lists. Initially I was all over: gcc, kernel,
a few scsi lists, security... Now I've got it down to a core of
kernel, two SCSI driver lists, DIALD, security and SMP. Don't be
afraid to subscribe to a lot of lists (read-only!) for a few weeks to
see what interests you. You can always unsubscribe later. Some people
prefer reading the lists via news, but I'd recommend mail: You SAVE
the mail on your hard disk. It becomes your personal reference library
(N.B. UNIX has some really great text search and processing tools).
You read all the mail. This gives you a feel for what's being worked
on and what's not, who knows what they're talking about and who
doesn't, and what snags are troubling other users. This is important
so you can ask senior developers PRIVATELY when you have questions
relating to The Code - unless you genuinely believe that a lot of list
subscribers also want the answer. Also, some of the news gateways
appear to be brutally broken, randomly mixing messages from different
linux lists like a cypherpunk remailer gone mad. I recommend going
straight to the source: send 'help' to
mailto:[email protected]
I quickly got over the idea that I could learn everything about the
kernel. Last time I looked, it was over 600,000 lines of source. I can
muck around with SCSI and network device drivers, I understand the mid
level SCSI code, and I've got a reasonably good handle on the
scheduler. That leaves high level networking, filesystems, the buffer
cache and memory management, to name a few, ABOUT WHICH I HAVEN'T A
CLUE. Pick an area you want to diddle with, and concentrate on that.
If you don't believe me, grab a dictionary and look up 'hubris'.
* Message split, to be continued *
--- Gnus v5.4.37/XEmacs 19.15 * Origin: Linux inside (2:5020/510@fidonet)
_ RU.LINUX (2:5077/15.22) ___________________________________________ RU.LINUX _
From : Boris Tobotras 2:5020/510 30 Jun 97 21:06:16
Subj : [part 2] linux-kernel FAQ (2/2)
________________________________________________________________________________
* Continuation 1 of a split message *
I read most (some?) of the important stuff in Documentation/ (you
should read it all) and then: I dove into the code, wholeheartedly,
for nights (days?) at a time. Pick drivers. Concentrate on the simple
ones - you want concepts, not nasty workarounds for buggy hardware.
Try 'wc *.c|sort' in your favorite directory. Pick ones that look well
formatted and well commented, and see how they're written and how they
interact with the higher level stuff. Go into each subdirectory in the
whole linux/ tree, and learn what lives there. You should be able to
identify what's what from the stuff you read in those books. Note
especially mm/ and kernel/, along with their counterparts under arch/.
Here lie most of the important functions for juggling memory,
interrupts, processes etcetera. Learn to use grep, find and xargs
effectively. If you have a strong constitution, look in the scripts/
directory and the Makefiles everywhere to see how the kernel actually
gets built. If you're a bit twiddler at heart, look at the low level
stuff for your favorite architecture under arch/.
If you've still got the lust for knowledge at this point, you will
probably have found 'that special something' that interests you in the
kernel. You will know generally how things work from the source, and
you will know the right people to ask from the source and the mailing
lists. If you have a question, go ahead and ask it. I've found
developers to be very helpful when asked questions by someone who's
obviously studied the sources. Play around. Recompile. Benchmark.
Test.
One thing that's probably overlooked by a lot of Linux people: BSD,
'the other free UNIX'. I can't even tell you the difference between
FreeBSD and NetBSD, but for my purposes, I don't care. They're
available free on the net or a CD, just like Linux
[160]<URL:http://ftp.freebsd.org>; and
[161]<URL:http://www.freebsd.org>;. If you're stumped by something in
Linux, seeing how BSD does it is often helpful, especially for device
drivers. Also (ahem) BSD code sometimes seems to be commented and
formatted somewhat better. I don't run it, I just look at the source.
At this stage your hats will no longer fit, and your dog will have run
off with your girlfriend. No matter, because you'll be able to ask,
and sometimes answer, intelligent questions about kernel design, in
your particular specialty areas. You'll be fixing insidious bugs,
improving performance, and posting things like 'this patch is from
memory and untested, but it will solve your problem on 2.1.87: [proper
patch syntax]'
I'm not at this stage yet, and I've been working at it for a while.
That's why I usually post answers to questions like 'where do I begin'
rather than 'why did it hang'. The above is working for me, it might
work for you. May the Source be With You, Always."
A. Appendix A - Maintainers
This policy and FAQ is currently maintained by Frohwalt Egerer
[162]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>. For communication concerning this
document please use [163]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>, that
mail alias will always point to the current maintainer.
The policy is created from input on the linux kernel mailing list. If
desired by members of the list a vote will be held to ratify the
policy.
Thanks to David A Rusling [164]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>
for providing the foundation to section one. Thanks to Colin Plumb
[165]<URL:mailto:[email protected]> who refined my proposal for section
one using his fine taste of language.
Thanks to Cameron MacKinnon [166]<URL:mailto:[email protected]> for
his really great article on getting started with kernel development
which I adopted into this document.
Thanks to Doug Ledford [167]<URL:mailto:[email protected]> for his
excellent description on how to hunt down filesystem corruption
problems.
Thanks to Eric Hoeltzel [168]<URL:mailto:[email protected]>
for the enormous amount of suggestions.
Thanks to Evgeny Rodichev [169]<URL:maito:[email protected]> for providing
the ver_linux shell script.
And thanks to W. Reilly Cooley, Kevin Fenzi, Gabriel Paubert, Marc
Merlin, Tethys, Antoine Reid, Sebastian Benoit, Regis Duchesne,
Riccardo Facchetti, J. Sean Connel, Seth M. Landsman, Martin Radford,
James Mastros, Nicholas J. Leon, E.Rodichev, Antoine Reid, Ben
Clifford, Melissa Johnson, Dave Wreski, Greg Patterson, Keith Rohrer,
Roch-Alexandre Nomine-Beguin, Raymo, Elliot Lee, Greg Alexander, Billy
Harvey, Harald Milz, John Carter, Janos Farkas, Tony Gale, Garst R.
Reese, Peter P. Eiserloh, Axel Boldt, Jakub Jelinek, Duncan Hill, Andi
Kleen, Steven N. Hirsch, Lars Wirzenius, Donald R. Harter, Tuomas
Heino, Miguel de Icaza, [email protected], Trevor Johnson, Peter Eiserloh,
Torbjorn Lindgren, Mike Wangsmo, Antony Stuckey, Herve Regad-Pellagru,
David S. Miller, Peter Rival, Steven N. Hirsch, Benjamin C R LaHaise
and all that I forgot to mention for their input, suggestions and
articles on the mailing list. This FAQ would not exist without their
help.
The quote of George B. Shaw in section 1.4 might not be accurate. I
heard it on German TV, remembered it for a few weeks and translated it
back to English for this FAQ.
B. Appendix B - Linux Kernel Mailing List Bug Report Form
Please use the following form to report bugs to the Linux kernel
mailing list. Having a standardized bug report form makes it easier
for you not to overlook things, and easier for the developers to find
just the little tad of information they're really interested in.
First run the ver_linux script included at the end of this Appendix or
at [170]<URL:ftp://ftp.sai.msu.su//sai2/ftp/pub/Linux/ver_linux>; It
checks out the version of some important subsystems.
Use that information to fill in all fields of the bug report form, and
post it to the mailing list with a subject of "ISSUE: <one line
summary from [1.]>" for easy identification by the developers
[1.] One line summary of the problem:
[2.] Full description of the problem/report:
[3.] Keywords (i.e., modules, networking, kernel):
[4.] Kernel version (from /proc/version):
[5.] Output of Oops.. message with symbolic information resolved
(see Kernel Mailing List FAQ, Section 1.5):
[6.] A small shell script or example program which triggers the
problem (if possible)
[7.] Environment
[7.1.] Software (add the output of the ver_linux script here)
[7.2.] Processor information (from /proc/cpuinfo):
[7.3.] Module information (from /proc/modules):
[7.4.] SCSI information (from /proc/scsi/scsi):
[7.5.] Other information that might be relevant to the problem
(please look in /proc and include all information that you
think to be relevant):
[X.] Other notes, patches, fixes, workarounds:
ver_linux (by Evgeny Rodichev <URL:mailto:[email protected]>
#!/bin/sh
# Before running this script please ensure that your PATH is
# typical as you use for compilation/istallation. I use
# /bin /sbin /usr/bin /usr/sbin /usr/local/bin, but it may
# differs on your system.
#
echo '-- Versions installed: (if some fields are empty or looks'
echo '-- unusual then possibly you have very old versions)'
uname -a
insmod -V 1>/tmp/ver_linux.tmp 2>>/tmp/ver_linux.tmp
awk 'NR==1{print "Kernel modules ",$NF}' /tmp/ver_linux.tmp
rm -f /tmp/ver_linux.tmp
echo "Gnu C " `gcc --version`
ld -v 2>&1 | awk -F\) '{print $1}' | awk \
'/BFD/{print "Binutils ",$NF}'
ls -l `ldd /bin/sh | awk '/libc/{print $3}'` | awk -F. \
'{print "Linux C Library " $(NF-2)"."$(NF-1)"."$NF}'
ldd -v | awk '{print "Dynamic Linker (ld.so)", $3}'
ls -l /usr/lib/libg++.so | awk -F. \
'{print "Linux C++ Library " $4"."$5"."$6}'
ps --version 2>&1 | awk 'NR==1{print "Procps ", $NF}'
mount --version | awk -F\- '{print "Mount ", $NF}'
netstat --version | awk \
'NR==1{if ($5 != "") { n=split($5,buf,"-"); ver=buf[n]; done=1 }}
NR==2{if (done != 1) ver=$3 }
END{print "Net-tools ",ver}'
loadkeys -h 2>&1 | awk 'NR==1{print "Kbd ",$3}'
expr --v | awk '{print "Sh-utils ", $NF}'
C. Appendix C - Unresolved Issues
Mention RFC 1925 section 11 in the policy.
[171]<URL:http://www.quantum.de/cgi-bin/rfcprint?rfc=1925>;
D. Appendix D - Change Log
$Log: draft,v $
Revision 1.20 1997/06/25 20:06:03 cvs
draft
Revision 1.19 1997/06/25 20:00:14 cvs
Fixed stupid typo.
Revision 1.18 1997/06/25 19:47:17 cvs
Updated the "build" system for the htmlified version of the FAQ
Revision 1.17 1997/06/25 16:28:29 cvs
HTMLified
Revision 1.16 1997/05/02 22:07:04 cvs
Added a lot of stuff accumulted in my mail box.
Revision 1.15 1997/04/12 22:19:43 cvs
Minor changes. Removed a resource on request.
Revision 1.14 1997/04/12 16:52:30 cvs
Added general 'kernel development' subsection, moved the getting
started below it and added a tips section together with some blurb on
cross referencing C.
Revision 1.13 1997/04/12 16:15:29 cvs
Added subsection on kernel nfsd compile problems
Revision 1.12 1997/04/11 14:18:13 cvs
Added "seasonal problems" sections for "NFS warning" and "Objdump
problems"
Revision 1.11 1997/04/10 10:24:01 cvs
Consistent layout (use 2 spaces between sentences)
Added more information on unsubscribing
Added examples how to do kernel diffs
Added SYN Flooding information
Added P6 Local APIC Information
Imported ver_linux update by Evgeny Rodichev
Revision 1.10 1997/04/10 07:29:19 cvs
Contents updated automatically
Revision 1.9 1997/04/07 05:44:23 cvs
Added a revision header to the top of the draft. Otherwise 1.9 is
equivalent to 1.8
Revision 1.8 1997/04/07 05:40:09 cvs
Imported yet another set of suggestions by Eric.
Imported the ver_linux data collection script of Evgeny Rodichev.
Revision 1.7 1997/04/07 04:32:48 cvs
FAQ is available on http://kernelfaq.iconsult.com from now on.
Revision 1.6 1997/04/06 22:05:07 cvs
Imported lots of e-mailed spelling changes for the parts added in 1.5
Elaborated a bit more on some sections
First draft of the Bug Report Form
Included, updated and corrected a number of resources
Started to use '=' markers so grep will build the table of contents
for me
Revision 1.5 1997/04/06 02:43:07 cvs
Fixed typo in Newsgroups: line. Feeling sheepish.
Revision 1.4 1997/04/06 02:41:29 cvs
Imported spelling and stylistic corrections
Elaborated on bug reports (section 1.5.)
Included section 1.6. "Kernel patches"
Added some new resources to section 2
Added section 3, and 3.1 (common problems) and move the 'getting
started' text to 3.2.
Added a change log (maintained by cvs)
Revision 1.1-1.3 "long ago"
Early drafts, 1.3 was not released to the public.
References
1. http://www.iconsult.com/
2. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#0.
3. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#1.
4. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#1.1.
5. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#1.2.
6. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#1.3.
7. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#1.4.
8. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#1.4.1.
9. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#1.4.2.
10. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#1.5.
11. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#1.6.
12. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#1.7.
13. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.
14. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.1.
15. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.1.1.
16. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.1.2.
17. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.1.3.
* Message split, to be continued *
--- Gnus v5.4.37/XEmacs 19.15 * Origin: Linux inside (2:5020/510@fidonet)
_ RU.LINUX (2:5077/15.22) ___________________________________________ RU.LINUX _
From : Boris Tobotras 2:5020/510 30 Jun 97 21:06:16
Subj : [part 3] linux-kernel FAQ (2/2)
________________________________________________________________________________
* Continuation 2 of a split message *
18. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.1.4
19. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.1.5
20. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.1.6.
21. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.1.7.
22. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.1.8.
23. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.1.9.
24. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.1.10.
25. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.2.
26. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.2.1.
27. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.2.2.
28. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.2.3.
29. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.2.4.
30. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.2.5.
31. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.2.6.
32. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#2.2.7.
33. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.
34. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.
35. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.1.
36. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.2.
37. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.3.
38. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.4.
39. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.5.
40. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.5.1.
41. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.5.2.
42. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.5.3.
43. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.5.4.
44. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.5.5.
45. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.5.6.
46. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.5.7.
47. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.5.8.
48. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.5.9.
49. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.1.5.10.
50. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.2.
51. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.2.1
52. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.2.2
53. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.2.3
54. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.2.4.
55. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.2.5.
56. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.2.6.
57. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.2.7.
58. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.2.8.
59. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.2.9.
60. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.3.
61. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.3.1.
62. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.3.1.1.
63. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#3.3.2.
64. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#a.
65. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#B.
66. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#C.
67. file://localhost/tmp/FAQ.html#D.
68. http://kernelfaq.iconsult.com/
69. mailto:[email protected]
70. http://www.caldera.com/LDP/Kernel-HOWTO.html
71. http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/Kernel-HOWTO.html
72. http://www.caldera.com/LDP/
73. http://sunsite.unc-edu/LDP/
74. http://www.linuxhq.com/
75. http://www.ecsnet.com/
76. http://www.redhat.com:8080/HyperNews/get/khg.html
77. http://lxr.linux.no/
78. mailto:[email protected]
79. http://www.linuxhq.com/lnxlists
80. http://www.redhat.com/~johnsonm/devices.html
81. http://www.cs.uml.edu/~acahalan/linux/wishlist.html
82. http://www.ssc.com/lj/
83. http://www.ssc.com/lj/issue23/1219.html
84. http://www.ssc.com/lj/issue24/kk24.html
85. http://www.ssc.com/lj/issue25/kk25.html
86. http://www.ssc.com/lj/issue26/interrupt.html
87. http://www.caldera.com/LDP/HOWTO/mini/Reading-List
88. http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/mini/Reading-List
89. http://www.cs.bu.edu/faculty/djy/cs835-fall96.html
90. mailto:[email protected]
91. http://www.linux.org/
92. http://www.caldera.com/LDP
93. http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP
94. http://www.ssc.com/linux/lsm.html
95. http://www.ngs.fi/lsm
96. http://www.boutell.com/lsm
97. ftp://ftp.execpc.com/pub/lsm/
98. ftp://cs-pub.bu.edu/pub/irc/clients
99. news:comp.os.linux.advocacy
100. news:comp.os.linux.announce
101. news:comp.os.linux.answers
102. news:comp.os.linux.development.apps
103. news:comp.os.linux.development.system
104. news:comp.os.linux.hardware
105. news:comp.os.linux.m68k
106. news:comp.os.linux.misc
107. news:comp.os.linux.networking
108. news:comp.os.linux.setup
109. news:comp.os.linux.x
110. http://www.ssc.com/lg
111. ftp://ftp.cs.helsinki.fi/pub/Software/Linux/Kernel/
112. http://www.ssc.com/linux/web.html
113. http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/
114. http://sunsite.unc.edu/paulc/incoming.html
115. http://www.crynwr.com/kchanges/
116. http://sunsite.unc.edu/linux-source
117. http://torgo.ml.org/las
118. http://cesdis1.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/
119. http://www.uk.linux.org/SMP/title.html
120. http://www.linuxnow.com/
121. http://www.xnet.com/~blatura/linapps.shtml
122. http://www.fokus.gmd.de/linux
123. mailto:[email protected]
124. ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/misc/memtest86-1.2.tar.gz
125. http://www.linuxhq.com/patch/20-p0525.html
126. mailto:[email protected]
127. http://www.bitwizard.nl/sig11
128. mailto:[email protected]
129. mailto:[email protected]
130. mailto:[email protected]
131.
ftp://ftp.mathematik.th-darmstadt.de/pub/linux/okir/linux-nfs-0.4.21.tar.gz
132. mailto:[email protected]
133. ftp.mathematik.th-darmstadt.de:/pub/linux/okir/
134. mailto:[email protected]
135.
file://localhost/../../../mnt/amd/letterman/export/home1/www/content/froh/Eric.S
[email protected]
136. mailto:[email protected]
137. ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/loadlin/update-1.6a/loadlin.exe.gz
138. ftp://elserv.ffm.fgan.de/pub/linux/loadlin-1.6/update-1.6a/loadlin.exe.gz
139. mailto:[email protected]
140.
file://localhost/../../../mnt/amd/letterman/export/home1/www/content/froh/kuznet
@ms2.inr.ac.ru
141. ftp://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/pub/linux-stego/index.html
142. http://rsphy1.anu.edu.au/~gpg109/mem.html
143. http://www.linux.org.uk/Linux8086.html
144. http://www.clark.net/pub/lawrencc/linux/
145. mailto:[email protected]
146. http://www.itl.nist.gov/div897/ctg
147. ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/daemons/autofs
148. http://www.dwc.edu/users/frival/acl/acldesign.html
149. http://www.dwc.edu/users/frival/acl/acl.c
150. mailto:[email protected]
151. mailto:[email protected]
152. ftp://dot.superaje.com/pub/linux/lofs-2.0.30.diff
153. mailto:[email protected]
154. ftp://ftp.gcom.com/pub/linux/src/streams-3-31-97
155. mailto:[email protected]
156. ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/davem/
157. mailto:[email protected]
158. mailto:[email protected]
159. http://www.redhat.com:8080/HyperNews/get/khg.html
160. http://ftp.freebsd.org/
161. http://www.freebsd.org/
162. mailto:[email protected]
163. mailto:[email protected]
164. mailto:[email protected]
165. mailto:[email protected]
166. mailto:[email protected]
167. mailto:[email protected]
168. mailto:[email protected]
169.
file://localhost/../../../mnt/amd/letterman/export/home1/www/content/froh/maito:
[email protected]
170. ftp://ftp.sai.msu.su//sai2/ftp/pub/Linux/ver_linux
171. http://www.quantum.de/cgi-bin/rfcprint?rfc=1925
--
Best regards, -- Boris.
--- Gnus v5.4.37/XEmacs 19.15 * Origin: Linux inside (2:5020/510@fidonet)
