kernel source and nVidia drivers - Bigger Question - now just need solution

[Jeff Vian]

On Mon, 2006-01-16 at 20:30 -0600, Bob Hartung wrote:
> Jeff and J.K.
>    There is no build subdirectory under:
>     /lib/modules/2.6.14-1.1656_FC4
>    This persists after a yum erase kernel-devel and a
>    yum install kernel-devel ...
> 
>   can I just mkdir build and try this again?
> 
> Bob
> 

this is what I see in 
[jeff at eagle nvidia]$ ls -l /lib/modules/2.6.14-1.1656_FC4/build
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root     47 Jan  8 19:34 build
-> ../../../usr/src/kernels/2.6.14-1.1656_FC4-i686


This is a logical link to /usr/src/kernels/2.6.14-1.1656_fc4-i686
and was created for me when I installed the kernel-devel package.  

If it is not doing that for you then something is wrong with the way the
install of the package is working.

Try the last part I suggested.  Completely remove the 2.6.14-1.1656
kernel and devel package and reinstall both at the same time.
You can use a yum update to do the install if you already have both
installed with the last version you updated.

Note that a kernel install or a kernel-devel install seems to hang for a
long time as it completes all the required housekeeping.  Be patient and
let them complete without interruption.

> 
> 
> Jeff Vian wrote:
> > On Mon, 2006-01-16 at 19:41 -0600, Bob Hartung wrote:
> > 
> >>Alright now,  I have made progress.
> >>
> >>uname --all reports:
> >>
> >>Linux minitwr 2.6.14-1.1656_FC4 #1 Thu Jan 5 22:14:13 EST 2006 i686 
> >>athlon i386 GNU/Linux
> >>
> >>This tells me that I have a i386 kernel installed. right?
> >>
> > 
> > No.  You have the i686 kernel on i386 architecture just like I do.
> > 
> > [jeff at eagle ~]$ uname -a
> > Linux eagle 2.6.14-1.1656_FC4 #1 Thu Jan 5 22:13:22 EST 2006 i686 athlon
> > i386 GNU/Linux
> > 
> > I do see a difference in the timestamp on the kernel though (which might
> > be due to clock differences??).
> > 
> > 
> >>rpm -qa | grep kernel reports:
> >>   kernel-doc-2.6.14-1.1656_FC4
> >>   kernel-2.6.14-1.1656_FC4
> >>   kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1656_FC4
> >>
> >>Now I now that the kernel-headers are for i686.  As the error I get 
> >>after running the nVidia installer is that I have the wrong kernel 
> >>source installed, i can only surmise that the difference is between i386 
> >>and i686.  Right?
> >>
> >>So now, how can i force yum to upgrade/install the current i686 kernel 
> >>to replace the i386 kernel that I am currently running?
> >>
> > 
> > You have the proper kernel per your output above.
> > 
> > It may be that the kernel-devel package is not properly installed.
> > Try "yum erase kernel-devel-2.6.14-1.1656_FC4"
> > then "yum install kernel-devel"
> > 
> > Also make certain that the installer you got from nvidia is the correct
> > one for Linux. The package I downloaded from them and worked for me was:
> >        NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8178-pkg1.run
> > 
> > If that does not resolve it then try rebooting to an older kernel,
> > remove the 1656 kernel (with a command similar to what was given for the
> > kernel-devel package), and reinstall the new kernel as well.
> > 
> > Note that yum works from the command line so you do not _have_ to have
> > the video driver working to do the erase and install commands.
> > 
> > 
> >>If you think I am completely wrong - say so!  I do want to keep up on 
> >>this as I will eventually better understand what I did wrong and 
> >>therfore avoid repeating it and maybe be able to help someone else.
> >>
> >>by the by, I am not a computer scientist, but a physician and i am glad 
> >>that I am a hell of a lot handier with an angiograhic catheter and a CT 
> >>scanner or MRI than I am proving to be with the linux kernel, yum and 
> >>all the repositories that i am slowly finding out about.
> >>
> >>Thanks again for putting up with this drivel.
> >>
> > 
> > We all have to learn new things. Don't be embarrassed at asking
> > questions.
> > 
> > 
> >>Bob Hartung
> >>
> > 
> > 
>