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Gentoo Linux Kernel Upgrade Guide

The kernel is one of the few package classes in portage that requires some manual intervention to complete the upgrade. Portage will download and install the kernel source for you, but then it is up to you to step in and compile the new kernel before any changes will take effect.
Although this guide is targeted at users upgrading from one kernel release to another, it will also be useful for users migrating from one kernel package to another.
gentoo-sources is used as an example in this document, however, the instructions here also apply to the other packages present in our tree.
Generally, upgrading from one minor kernel release to the next wont bring any major differences. There are several reasons to upgrade the kernel. One is to take advantage of a specific new feature or driver; another is to be protected against a security vulnerability, or just to maintain an up-to-date and healthy system.
Even if you choose not to update to every new kernel revision, it is recommended that you at least upgrade from time to time. It is strongly recommended that you immediately upgrade to a new kernel if that new release solves a security problem.
You upgrade the kernel sources like you would upgrade any other package - using the emerge utility. It will probably be the case that you want to upgrade your kernel when you see the upgrade appearing on your world updates list. For example:

Code Listing 3.1: New kernel sources appearing on update list

# emerge -Dup world Calculating dependencies ...done! [ebuild NS ] sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-2.6.9-r2 [2.6.8-r5]

Note: The "NS" label in the above output means that the new kernel will be installed in a New Slot, i.e. the sources of your old kernel will be kept around, until you manually remove them.

You can then go ahead and install the update, e.g.:

Code Listing 3.2: Upgrading your kernel sources

# emerge -u gentoo-sources

The kernel sources will then be installed into a subdirectory of /usr/src. In the above example, the new kernel sources will be installed at/usr/src/linux-2.6.9-gentoo-r2.
Gentoo requires that the /usr/src/linux symbolic link points to the sources of the kernel you are running.
Portage can update the symlink automatically when you emerge new kernel sources. All you have to do is add the symlink flag to the USE variable in /etc/make.conf.

Code Listing 4.1: Example of USE variable in /etc/make.conf

(Add the symlink keyword) USE="symlink x86 3dnow 3dnowex X aac aalib adns alsa apache2"

Alternatively, you could use app-admin/eselect to modify the symlink.

Code Listing 4.2: Using eselect to symlink

(Install eselect if you dont have it) # emerge eselect (See the list of available kernels) # eselect kernel list Available kernel symlink targets: [1] linux-2.6.9-gentoo-r1 [2] linux-2.6.9-gentoo-r2 * (Select the correct kernel) # eselect kernel set 1 (Verify the kernel was symlinked) # eselect kernel list [1] linux-2.6.9-gentoo-r1 * [2] linux-2.6.9-gentoo-r2

If you really want to do it yourself, the following example shows you how to make the link point to linux-2.6.9-gentoo-r2:

Code Listing 4.3: Updating the /usr/src/linux softlink manually

# cd /usr/src # ln -sfn linux-2.6.9-gentoo-r2 linux

For either of these options, you should refer to the instructions given in the Gentoo Handbook relating to Configuring the Kernel and Configuring the Bootloader. Below is an outline of the required actions:
If you are a genkernel user, you just need to repeat the stages you went through when installing your kernel for the first time.
Simply run genkernel in the normal way:

Code Listing 5.1: Invoking genkernel

# genkernel all

You can also use extra parameters for other genkernel functionality. For example, if you wish to configure some extra kernel options usingmenuconfig and you wish genkernel to automatically update your grub boot loader configuration, then invoke genkernel as follows:

Code Listing 5.2: Invoking genkernel with some common arguments

# genkernel --menuconfig --bootloader=grub all

For more info, follow the Gentoo Linux Genkernel Guide, or refer to the Gentoo Handbook. Many of the options can be set in the configuration file for genkernel, /etc/genkernel.conf.
To begin, open the menuconfig utility in the kernel source tree:

Code Listing 5.3: Invoking menuconfig

# cd /usr/src/linux # make menuconfig

Select the options required for your hardware and operating environment. For additional information on kernel configuration, refer to the chapter entitled Configuring the Kernel of the Gentoo Handbook.
Next, compile your kernel and copy it over to your boot partition. Again, follow the Gentoo Handbook instructions outlined in the chapter onConfiguring the Bootloader. If /boot is a separate partition, ensure it is mounted before copying the compiled kernel to this directory! Failing to do so would keep you from booting the system with your new kernel.

Code Listing 5.4: Compiling and installing the new kernel

# make && make modules_install # mount /boot # cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage-2.6.9-gentoo-r2

Finally, you should update your boot loader configuration, adding an entry for the new kernel (dont delete the old one just yet!) and unmount the/boot partition. Again, refer to the Gentoo Handbook for detailed instructions on this procedure.
If you use any kernel modules that are not included in the kernel source tree but are provided elsewhere in Portage (e.g. ALSA drivers and NVIDIA or ATI graphics drivers), then you must reinstall these after upgrading the kernel. This is as simple as re-merging the packages involved. For more information, refer to the chapter on Configuring the Kernel in the Gentoo Handbook.
We provide you with an easy tool (sys-kernel/module-rebuild) which rebuilds all the kernel modules you have installed using separate ebuilds for the kernel at /usr/src/linux. Its use is straightforward. After emerging it, simply run module-rebuild populate to populate the database with a list of packages that will need to be rebuilt after upgrading the kernel. Once you have finished upgrading or recompiling your kernel, run module-rebuild rebuild to rebuild the drivers for your new kernel.
For more information, run module-rebuild without any options to see a list of commands that can be passed to the utility.
Next, close all applications and reboot your system. If you followed the above instructions correctly, the boot loader menu should include an entry for the new kernel. Select the new kernel and let the system boot.
Hopefully, your system successfully boots with the new kernel, and you can log in to resume whatever you were doing. If this is the case, then the upgrade is complete.
If you made a mistake and the system fails to boot with the new kernel, reboot the system and select the entry from the boot loader that corresponds to the last known working kernel. You can then restart from the Configuring, compiling, and installing the new kernel stage -- making the appropriate changes to correct your mistake. In some cases, you might not even need to reboot to do this (e.g. you missed a driver for an audio device, Ethernet adapter, etc.)
You may have noticed, that when installing the sources for your newer kernel, the sources for your existing kernel were not removed. This is by design -- it allows you to easily switch between running different kernels.
Switching between multiple kernels is as simple as leaving the kernel sources under /usr/src/ and leaving the bzImage binaries on your/boot partition (referenced by entries in your boot loader configuration). Every time you boot up, you will be presented with a choice of which kernel to boot into.
Continuing on from the last section, you may be happy with your new kernel and not have any need to keep older kernel versions around. To easily remove all sources for a particular kernel except for the newest one, you can take advantage of the prune option available through emerge. Continuing the example using gentoo-sources:

Code Listing 9.1: Pruning old versions

# emerge -P gentoo-sources

In most cases, temporary files used during compilation will still remain under the appropriate source directory under /usr/src. It is safe to remove these using rm.
You can also safely delete any modules that were used by this kernel. This can be done by removing the appropriate directories under/lib/modules/ that relate to the kernel versions you are removing. Be careful not to delete modules belonging to kernels that you still use!
Finally, you can mount your /boot partition and remove the bzImage file(s) for the kernel(s) you are pruning. You should also edit your boot loader configuration so that it no longer references such kernel(s).
It is sometimes possible to save time by re-using the configuration file from your old kernel when configuring the new one. Note that this is generally unsafe -- too many changes between every kernel release for this to be a reliable upgrade path.
The only situation where this is appropriate is when upgrading from one Gentoo kernel revision to another. For example, the changes made between gentoo-sources-2.6.9-r1 and gentoo-sources-2.6.9-r2 will be very small, so it is usually OK to use the following method. However, it is not appropriate to use it in the example used throughout this document: upgrading from 2.6.8 to 2.6.9. Too many changes between the official releases, and the method described below does not display enough context to the user, often resulting in the user running into problems because they disabled options that they really didnt want to.
To reuse your old .config, you simply need to copy it over and then run make oldconfig. In the following example, we take the configuration from gentoo-sources-2.6.9-r1 and import it into gentoo-sources-2.6.9-r2.

Code Listing 10.1: Reusing your old config

# cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.9-gentoo-r2 # cp ../linux-2.6.9-gentoo-r1/.config . # make oldconfig

Code Listing 10.2: Reusing your old config with genkernel

# cd /etc/kernels # cp kernel-config-x86-2.6.9-gentoo-r1 kernel-config-x86-2.6.9-gentoo-r2 # genkernel all

At this point, you may be asked to produce answers for configuration options which have changed between the two versions. Once you have done that, you can compile and install your kernel as normal, without having to go through the menuconfig configuration process.
A much safer upgrading method is to copy your config as previously shown, and then simply run make menuconfig. This avoids the problems ofmake oldconfig mentioned previously, as make menuconfig will load up your previous configuration as much as possible into the menu. Now all you have to do is go through each option and look for new sections, removals, and so on. By using menuconfig, you gain context for all the new changes, and can easily view the new choices and review help screens much easier. You can even use this for upgrades such as 2.6.8 to 2.6.9; just make sure you read through the options carefully. Once youve finished, compile and install your kernel as normal.
With the rapid development of the Linux kernel, it is inevitable that some changes made from one kernel release to another may cause some problems. If you have any issues with the latest versions of Gentoo-supported kernels then please do report the issues to us.

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