What's the easiest way to install xfs to RedHat Linux 7.1?

[pham]

Hi,

I have recently install REdHat Linux 7.1 (kernel version 2.4.2) on a compaq 6000 server. We have a need to support largefile (file > 2GB). I have been looking at the SGI'xfs file system. Is there an .rpm out there for xfs that will work with kernel 2.4.2?

I have downloaded and installed the kernel-2.4.3-SGI_XFS_1.0.1.i386.rpm but when rebooting the new kernel, I get a "kernel panic" error message. Since I have never been able to successfully rebuild the kernel on Linux, I am hoping there's some easier way to do this.

Thanks in advance.
Steve

 

[ifincham]

Hi,





Did you remember to to the '/sbin/mkinitrd' command and put the initrd= entry in /etc/lilo.conf ? See -->

http://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/rpm.html

.




In terms of what's easiest - if you were starting from scratch they have a modified RH7.1 install --> ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/download/Release-1.0.1/installer/RH7.1-SGI-XFS-1.0.1/ . You still need the original CDs as well, incidentally.





Other than that, theres the rpms you found or you can execute source patches against the standard kernel source tree and compile your own customised kernel --> ftp://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/download/latest/kernel_patches/ .





Obviously the first one would seem easiest but of the other two, personally, I'd probably choose the kernel patches rather than rpms. It all depends on how happy you are with patching kernels, etc., though. I'm not aware of any pre-built rpms for version 2.4.2 . The patches are against 2.4.5 but may work against other 2.4.x kernels (it all depends how much the files due to be patched have changed between versions).




Regards

 

[pham]

I spent a day trying to get the rpm.html to work but it did not. I think for the most part I was ok, except for I don't know which is the right packet to install from the RHlinux-2.4.3 folder. Maybe you can help straighten me out here. What I did was

download and install the new 'xfsprogs' program
download and install the "kernel-2.4.3-SGI_XFS_1.0.1.i386.rpm
create the new image /sbin/mkinitrd
modify the /etc/lilo.conf to include the new kernel
run lilo -v -v

Question: From the folder, there are more .rpm than just the kernel rpm mentioned above. There are also:
1)kernel-BOOT-2.4.3-SGI-XFS-1.0.1.i386.rpm
2)kernel-headers-2.4.3.................rpm
3)kernel-source-2.4.3..................rpm
4)kernel-doc-2.4.3.....................rpm
Do I need to install any of these package?

Thanks for the response,
STeve

 

[ifincham]

Hi,











Well the kernel-headers are (.h) files for the source tree - kernel-source being the source code itself. kernel-doc may be the documentation files that go with the source. Ordinarily, most people who 'roll their own' would just download the entire source tarball. However, these rpms probably contain the SGI patched source code rather than the vanilla version. You would only want those if you were going to compile your own custom kernel.











kernel-BOOT is described as "This package includes a trimmed down version of the Linux kernel. This kernel is used on the installation boot disks only and should not be used for an installed system, as many features in this kernel are turned off because of the size constraints." So, thats a less featured version of the main rpm and you wouldn't need it.








Looking at the files in the main rpm, the main image (kernel) is :











/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.5-SGI_XFS_1.0.1











(There is a file called '/sbin/installkernel' that may do some things for you but I'd read it first rather than just execute.) Anyway, I notice that the instructions illustrate a lilo block like :





image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.3-SGI_XFS_1.0.1.smp





label=xfs





initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.3-SGI_XFS_1.0.1.img





read-only





root=/dev/sda1











Apart from the version numbers, the image name does not seem to match that found in the rpm (has .smp extension). The install script run by that rpm is as follows :











cd /boot





ln -sf vmlinuz-2.4.5-SGI_XFS_1.0.1 vmlinuz





ln -sf System.map-2.4.5-SGI_XFS_1.0.1 System.map





ln -sf module-info-2.4.5-SGI_XFS_1.0.1 module-info





[ -x /usr/sbin/module_upgrade ] && /usr/sbin/module_upgrade





depmod -ae -F /boot/System.map-2.4.5-SGI_XFS_1.0.1 2.4.5-SGI_XFS_1.0.1





/sbin/mkkerneldoth

















So, having done (as root) a :











/sbin/mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.4.5-SGI_XFS_1.0.1.img 2.4.5-SGI_XFS_1.0.1











I think you would then need a lilo image block like this :











image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.5-SGI_XFS_1.0.1





label=xfs





initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.5-SGI_XFS_1.0.1.img





read-only





root=/dev/sda1











Then run lilo - '/sbin/lilo -v'











Hope this helps