[2081905] | 1 | <sect1 id="ch-system-kernel-headers">
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| 2 | <title>Installing Linux-&kernel-version; headers</title>
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| 3 | <?dbhtml filename="kernelheaders.html" dir="chapter06"?>
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| 4 |
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| 5 | <screen>&buildtime; &kernel-time-headers;
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| 6 | &diskspace; &kernel-compsize-headers;</screen>
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| 7 |
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[ef2b63b] | 8 | <sect2><title> </title><para> </para></sect2>
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| 9 |
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[1987d72] | 10 | <sect2>
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[2081905] | 11 | <title>Installation of the kernel headers</title>
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| 12 |
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| 13 | <para>We won't be compiling a new kernel yet -- we'll do that when we have
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| 14 | finished the installation of all the packages. But the libraries installed in
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| 15 | the next section need to refer to the kernel header files in order to know how
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| 16 | to interface with the kernel. Instead of unpacking the kernel sources again,
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| 17 | making the version file and the symlinks and so on, we will simply copy the
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| 18 | headers from the temporary tools directory in one swoop:</para>
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| 19 |
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| 20 | <screen><userinput>cp -a /tools/include/{asm,asm-generic,linux} /usr/include</userinput></screen>
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| 21 |
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| 22 | <para>A few kernel header files refer to the <filename>autoconf.h</filename>
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| 23 | header file. Since we have not yet configured the kernel, we need to create
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| 24 | this file ourselves in order to avoid a compilation failure of Sysklogd.
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| 25 | Create an empty <filename>autoconf.h</filename> file with:</para>
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| 26 |
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| 27 | <screen><userinput>touch /usr/include/linux/autoconf.h</userinput></screen>
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| 28 |
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| 29 | </sect2>
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| 30 |
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| 31 | <sect2><title> </title><para> </para></sect2>
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| 32 |
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| 33 | <sect2>
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| 34 | <title>Why we copy the kernel headers</title>
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[1987d72] | 35 |
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[bed61bb] | 36 | <para>In the past it was common practice to symlink the
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| 37 | <filename class="directory">/usr/include/{linux,asm}</filename> directories
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| 38 | to <filename class="directory">/usr/src/linux/include/{linux,asm}</filename>.
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| 39 | This was a <emphasis>bad</emphasis> practice, as the following extract from a
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| 40 | post by Linus Torvalds to the Linux Kernel Mailing List points out:</para>
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[1987d72] | 41 |
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| 42 | <screen>I would suggest that people who compile new kernels should:
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| 43 |
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| 44 | - not have a single symbolic link in sight (except the one that the
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| 45 | kernel build itself sets up, namely the "linux/include/asm" symlink
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| 46 | that is only used for the internal kernel compile itself)
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| 47 |
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| 48 | And yes, this is what I do. My /usr/src/linux still has the old 2.2.13
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| 49 | header files, even though I haven't run a 2.2.13 kernel in a _loong_
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[4fa86d1] | 50 | time. But those headers were what Glibc was compiled against, so those
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[1987d72] | 51 | headers are what matches the library object files.
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| 52 |
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| 53 | And this is actually what has been the suggested environment for at
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| 54 | least the last five years. I don't know why the symlink business keeps
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| 55 | on living on, like a bad zombie. Pretty much every distribution still
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| 56 | has that broken symlink, and people still remember that the linux
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| 57 | sources should go into "/usr/src/linux" even though that hasn't been
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| 58 | true in a _loong_ time.</screen>
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| 59 |
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[bed61bb] | 60 | <para>The essential part is where Linus states that the header files should be
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[4fa86d1] | 61 | <emphasis>the ones which Glibc was compiled against</emphasis>. These are
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[bed61bb] | 62 | the headers that should be used when you later compile other packages, as they
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| 63 | are the ones that match the object-code library files. By copying the headers,
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| 64 | we ensure that they remain available if later you upgrade your kernel.</para>
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| 65 |
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| 66 | <para>Note, by the way, that it is perfectly all right to have the kernel sources
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| 67 | in <filename class="directory">/usr/src/linux</filename>, as long as you don't
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| 68 | have the <filename class="directory">/usr/include/{linux,asm}</filename>
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| 69 | symlinks.</para>
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[1987d72] | 70 |
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| 71 | </sect2>
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[bed61bb] | 72 |
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[2081905] | 73 | </sect1>
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| 74 |
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