[cobalt-developers] New kernel released to experimental

[Chris Johnson <cjohnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The latest cobalt kernel binary and source RPMs are available
on the experimental FTP site. 

Kernel binary, include, and source snapshot rpms:
    ftp://ftp.cobaltnet.com/pub/experimental/kernel-2.2.14C3-1.i386.rpm
    ftp://ftp.cobaltnet.com/pub/experimental/kernel-headers-2.2.14C3-1.i386.rpm
    ftp://ftp.cobaltnet.com/pub/experimental/kernel-source-2.2.14C3-1.i386.rpm

Kernel source srpm:
    ftp://ftp.cobaltnet.com/pub/experimental/SRPMS/kernel-2.2.14C3-1.src.rpm

As the name implies, this is the 2.2.14 base.  Cobalt has added
the patches for ide, raid, usb and kgdb.  In addition, the binary
kernel has more options on by default so that fewer developers
should need to rebuild their own kernels.  This includes
    USB modules
    IP masquerading
    Packet driver compiled in, rather than module
    RAID features

This kernel has gone though light testing here, but has not yet
passed a full system test cycle.  This kernel is experimental
and unsupported.

Use at your own risk.

For those of you who are using the Cobalt bandwidth management
module, there is a spin of insmod in the modutils package that
will load the bwmgmt module in the more recent kernel:

Binary RPMs
    ftp://ftp.cobaltnet.com/pub/experimental/modutils-2.1.121-12C1.i386.rpm
    ftp://ftp.cobaltnet.com/pub/experimental/bwmgmt-1.0-8.i386.rpm

Source RPM
    ftp://ftp.cobaltnet.com/pub/experimental/SRPMS/modutils-2.1.121-12C1.src.rpm

The problem is that insmod validates the uname of the running
system against the version compiled into each module.  If they
differ, the module will not be loaded.  This is pessimistic
since modules are unlikely to break from version 2.2.14C1 to 
version 2.2.14C3.  In fact, many simple modules are likely to
work between 2.2.12 and 2.2.14.

The version of insmod in the above package only requires that
the version and patchlevel match, ie. 2.2.  If the "sublevel"
or "extraversion" differs, this insmod prints a warning, but
will try to load the module anyway.  By using the Linux module
interface version mechanism, drivers should be able to ensure
that they will operate even after the base kernel is upgraded.

The final piece of this puzzle is that the modutils looks for
kernel modules rooted in /lib/modules/`uname -r`, i.e.
/lib/modules/2.2.14C3/net/dummy.o.  Modules that wish to be
release independent should install in /lib/modules.   That
is one of the changes in the bwmgmt-1.0-8, which installs
into /lib/modules/net/bwmgmt.o.

None of the above packages are official releases yet, so
please understand that the "experimental" means that there
are risks if you decide to test these packages.  Make sure
you have a valid backup, have an OS restore CD, be careful.

That being said, please let me know if you run into any
problems.

Chris Johnson
cjohnson@xxxxxxxxxx