Kickstart Dapper with a newer kernel version that got support for my hardware

Tue Jun 26 12:08:47 UTC 2007

Hi,

I had a similar issue with recent hardware. But i m using FAI to
install my servers.

I did the following:
Built a kernel from source without module for the pxe boot
Added the feisty kernel in our own repository
Change the installed kernel in FAI from .15 to .20

Dunno if it can help with kickstart

On 6/26/07, Jaco Engelbrecht <bje at serendipity.org.za> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm currently rolling out some systems on HP DL320 servers, with a LSI
> SAS 1068 RAID controller.
>
> During the installation of Dapper 6.06 LTS, partman hangs because it
> didn't detect any drives.  LTS is the reason for using Dapper, amongst
> things.
>
> I decided to install Feisty (2.6.20 kernel), and it detects both my
> network card and the RAID controller.  Great!
>
> Now I'm trying to find the "correct" way, of making a 2.6.20 kernel work
> with my Dapper installation.  I'm installing these systems via PXE
> boot/kickstart.  So it's not that straight forward.
>
> So, I'm looking for hints on how to make a initrd.gz from a later kernel
> that already got support built in for my hardware, that's usable for
> netboot purposes.  I've tried various things over the last couple of
> days, but no luck.
>
> Typically, if I were to add support for a newee network card, I'd do
> something like this documented below.  I had a look at doing this to add
> support for my RAID controller, but it does not seem that easy:
>
> --
> # cd /root
> # mkdir -p extract-{dapper,feisty}
> # cd extract-feisty
> # zcat /export/autoinstall/ubuntu/feisty/ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz
> | cpio -i
> # cd ..
> # cd extract-dapper
> # zcat /export/autoinstall/ubuntu/dapper/ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz
> | cpio -i
> # cd ..
> # cp
> ./extract-feisty/lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic/kernel/drivers/net/bnx2.ko
>  extract-dapper/lib/modules/2.6.15-23-386/kernel/drivers/net/
> # grep bnx extract-feisty/lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic/modules.alias
> >> extract-dapper/lib/modules/2.6.15-23-386/modules.alias
>
> # grep bnx extract-feisty/lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic/modules.dep >>
> extract-dapper/lib/modules/2.6.15-23-386/modules.dep
> # vi extract-dapper/lib/modules/2.6.15-23-386/modules.dep
>
> ( change 2.6.20-15-generic to 2.6.15-23-386 )
>
> # find . | cpio -o --format='newc' |   gzip -9 > initrd.gz
> # mv /export/autoinstall/ubuntu/dapper/ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz
> /export/autoinstall/ubuntu/dapper/ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz.prev
> # cp initrd.gz
> /export/autoinstall/ubuntu/dapper/ubuntu-installer/i386/initrd.gz
> --
>
>
> I then decided to rather try find a way to make a newer kernel with
> support already built in, work with an older distribution instead.
>
> What I've done so far:
>
>  - installed Ubuntu Dapper 6.06 LTS on another HP DL320 with no RAID
> controller
>  - installed 2.6.20-15-386 kernel (fetched
> linux-image-2.6.20-15-386_2.6.20-15.27_i386.deb and did a dpkg -i)
>  - changed /etc/mkinitramfs/initramfs.conf: set BOOT=nfs and MODULES=netboot
>  - mkinitramfs -o /home/bje/initrd-2.6.20-15.netboot.gz
>
> My first attempt gave me:
>
> --
> WARNING: Couldn't open directory /lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic: No such
> file or directory
> FATAL: Could not open /lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic/modules.dep.temp
> for writing: No such file or directory
> --
>
> So I figured, OK, just do this:
>
> # zcat ../initrd-2.6.20-15.netboot.gz | cpio -i
> # cp -pr lib/modules/2.6.20-15-386 lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic
> # find . | cpio -o --format='newc' |   gzip -9 >
> initrd-2.6.20-15.netboot-fixed.gz
>
> Booting using initrd-2.6.20-15.netboot-fixed.gz now gives me:
>
> --
> [    1.581323] Freeing unused kernel memory: 328k freed
> [    1.604422] softcursor: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.608651] bitblit: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.612712] font: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.616607] tileblit: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.620620] fbcon: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.625943] vesafb: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> Begin: Loading essential drivers... ...
> [    1.636038] commoncap: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.640803] capability: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.648808] softcursor: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.653494] bitblit: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.657515] font: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.661533] tileblit: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.665577] fbcon: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> Done.
> Begin: Running /scripts/init-premount ...
> [    1.683001] fan: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.688121] processor: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    1.692882] thermal: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> Done.
> Begin: Mounting root file system... ...
> Begin: Running /scripts/nfs-top ...
> udevplug[1166]: make_queue: unable to create /dev/.udev/queue: No such
> file or directory
> [    2.026296] tg3: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.035042] tg3: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.043882] tg3: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.054421] tg3: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.070388] tg3: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.086372] tg3: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.118873] usbcore: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.122931] uhci_hcd: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.127390] usbcore: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.131466] ehci_hcd: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.141730] usbcore: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.145855] uhci_hcd: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.150653] usbcore: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.154632] uhci_hcd: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.163210] usbcore: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.168539] uhci_hcd: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.172812] usbcore: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.177127] usbcore: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.181444] uhci_hcd: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.189708] uhci_hcd: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> Done.
> [    2.207343] sunrpc: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.211454] lockd: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.215821] nfs: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> [    2.221672] af_packet: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module
> SIOCGIFINDEX: er[    2.230457] Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to
> kill init!
> ror 19
> ipconfig[    2.234330]
> --
>
> Any ideas?  Am I wasting my time?
>
> Is there any documentation on how to add support for newer (RAID
> controllers/)hardware to a LTS release?  I can't wait for the next LTS
> release to come out, and I can't run mixed versions of Ubuntu on this
> particular platform - different versions of software, it also makes
> management of the systems a nightmare.
>
> Jaco
>
> --
> bje at serendipity.org.za
> the faculty of making fortunate discoveries
>
> --
> ubuntu-server mailing list
> ubuntu-server at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-server
>

-- 
Sebastien Estienne