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2. Kernel patching.

2.1 Facts.

2.2 Patch descriptions.

Note - All patches are to be applied to a pristine 2.0.30, except as noted.

axp-diffs-2.0.30.gz -Various fixes for 2.0.30. -Modifies the kernel headers to make them compatible with glibc 1.9.

alpha-patches-2.0.30-0.2a.gz -Includes the above, plus additional bug fixes. -In particular, includes enhancements needed for em86, and has SYSV IPC bugfixes. These are needed for the X server MIT SHM extention. Without it you can't run xquake, so this is a very important bugfix. -Breaks trap handling - running programs with lots of unaligned access could crash the machine.

Kernel which comes with Redhat 4.2: -A patched version of 2.0.30. Kernel headers are patched to be compatible with glibc 1.9 headers. Includes some, but not all of alpha-patches-2.0.30-0.2a.gz, but *does* include the trap handling bug. -I believe it also is missing the SYSV IPC bugfixes, without which the X server MIT SHM extention will fail, so you can't run xquake.

alpha-patchset.tar.gz -Includes several patches: alpha-patches-0.2-glibc2.diff -This is alpha-patches-2.0.30-0.2 (*not* 0.2a), but modified to apply to 2.0.30-pre.10, except that it *doesn't* modify kernel headers for glibc 1.9. ap-0.2-fixes-1.diff -Fixes to alpha-patches-0.2-glibc2.diff. In particular, fixes the trap handling.

2.3 Kernel compilation possibilities.

WARNING - Remember that kernel sources unpack into /usr/src/linux, so if you have a /usr/src/linux symlink, you'll need to remove it, unpack the kernel, and put back the symlink.

2.4 Kernel compilation details.

It seems that with the Redhat glibc one can use both unpatched and patched kernels, as long as one keeps a /usr/src/linux symlink to the Redhat kernel source tree. So, we get the following procedure for those using Redhat's glibc (glibc 1.9). Those brave enough to use glibc2 can probably figure out what they need to do on their own or via the glibc2 HowTos.

Step by step notes:


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