udev won't work after compiling 2.6.17.9 kernel

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Installation Issues

I've installed knoppix 5.0.1 onto hd of HP nx2940 (since sarge installer needs modules it doesn't have at the start of installation - i couldn't used Sarge). Compiled the kernel, knoppix updated it's hardware profile, but I am getting message about udev not working since sysfs is not mounted continuously. I have a sysfs entry in /etc/fstab, and after the boot everything in sysfs mount point seems ok. However udev doesn't start which means no magic for USB ports, etc.

What could be the problem?

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What was the previous kernel?

Submitted by pinniped on Fri, 2006-09-08 16:26.

There have been a few large changes from 2.6.11 to .12, .15 to .16, and again from .16 to .17; if your kernel was older than 2.6.12 and you just compiled and installed a .17 kernel, udev will not work; it will need to be updated.

Knoppix is not a good choice to install - even the Knoppix website says that it is meant to be a LiveCD and not meant for installation on the HD. You CAN use Knoppix to bootstrap a normal Debian installation though; just use it to set up the HD partitions, create the "target", and use "cdebootstrap" to install whatever Debian branch you want. The only hitch is that you need a temporary directory on HD to download a few initial packages to, but you can easily create a temporary directory on your target filesystem.

Really?

Submitted by 1 on Sat, 2006-09-09 11:02.

The kernel was also 2.6.17, however i don't care anymore. I' ve used knoppix only because it was installable at once (it didn't have problems detecting my notebook's discs). I never knew that it is possible to use Knoppix to install Debian! Give a little more detail please! (in the meantime i'll try with what you've said already).

It takes some effort -

Submitted by pinniped on Sun, 2006-09-10 03:21.

First read the documentation for "cdebootstrap". If you go to the official Debian page and look up the instruction for installing to AMD64, you will find a guide on how to use cdebootstrap. You follow much the same process except that you use a normal mirror (rather than the alioth64) and specify the branch you want (etch/sid/sarge). Since different mirrors are set up slightly differently, the command you issue to cdebootstrap will have a slightly different remote path. The list of mirrors actually gives you the correct path to use for ftp or http. Then the steps go something like this:

1. Boot Knoppix
2. Manually partition and format the HD.
3. Create a /target directory
4. Mount your root partition to /target
5. Mount other partitions in there as necessary
I'm not sure now if you need to create a directory hierarchy or if cdebootstrap will do that.
6. use 'wget' to download cdebootstrap to a temporary directory in your 'target' directory - if anything goes wrong later at least you won't have to download cdebootstrap again. :) Also download any dependencies which you don't have (but odds are Knoppix has all of them).
7. Back in your main filesystem, unpack 'cdebootstrap' and manually set it up in a directory. You can unpack the .deb file using "ar":
ar x packagename.deb
From there you have .tzr.gz files to expand:
tar zxvf some_file.tar.gz
The "binary" file is what you want and it will expand to lib, usr, sbin, bin, and other directories. When you finish seting up debootstrap you can run it and your base Debian system will be installed. :) You may then have to spend a bit of time setting up the bootloader or something.

Of course if Knoppix already has debootstrap or cdebootstrap, you don't need to go through all the hassle of downloading and setting it up.

Of course if the Debian kernel can't detect your discs, you will need to boot with Knoppix and compile a new kernel to install into your Debian system. You should try an "etch" installer; the Sarge installer will not recognize quite a few new(er) SATA controllers.

Even cooler thing

Submitted by 1 on Mon, 2006-09-11 04:39.

pinniped thank you! however look at what I did:

1) couldn't qtparted the reiserfs root partition so i just made a temporary directory - target in /usr/local (of course it could be anywhere) on that root partition.
2) used debootstrap to install the base system in target
3) chroot-ed in target and mount --binded (--bound :-)) /dev and /proc from existing configuration to target's target/dev and target/proc
4) mounted the old root partition in /mnt/rootpart
5) This is coolest step - rm -Rf for /bin, /usr, /sbin, /var, /opt,.. spared /home, /boot dir, /proc and /dev also (since they die with every boot, those last two). Then mv /"each of important dirs" /mnt/rootpart. I left /boot since it contained my compiled kernel img.
6) rebooted and voila here I am in my brand new sarge configuration
7) recompiled the kernel since the previous image was made by a newer compiler
8) almost fried my processor by not including the ACPI in the kernel :)
9) now everything works great

I couldn't use etch since I have only dialup, and no easy way to obtain it. I have Sarge DVDs so i used them for debootstrap

great -

Submitted by pinniped on Tue, 2006-09-12 02:36.

Now you know what to do when you're caught out with the "my Debian installer doesn't recognize my hardware but Knoppix does" situation. I think that will always be a problem with "stable" and new hardware. When I got an Opteron machine with a relatively new Tyan board last year I had to go through a 48-hour ordeal to install SID for a pure 64-bit system. (Thanks to broken install scripts, missing drivers, etc.)

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