Whither the ide-tape module

[Rick Stevens]

Bob McClure Jr wrote:
> What the heck has happened to the ide-tape module in the 2.6 kernels?
> The last FC2 kernel as distributed by KRUD,
> 
> http://www.tummy.com/krud/
> 
> that supported my IDE tape drives was 2.6.8-1.521.  Kernel
> 2.6.9-1.6_FC2 does not.  And now that I've upgraded to FC3, with
> kernel 2.6.10-1.766_FC3, I'm stuck with a dead tape drive.  The one in
> my file server is still ok because I haven't and won't upgrade that
> until I have my backup needs covered.
> 
> Now that they are no longer distributing the kernel-source RPM, I
> guess I'm supposed to download the latest from kernel.org and build a
> custom kernel.  Phooey, I thought I was free of that many years ago
> when they modularized the kernel.

The kernel source is available, but not as "kernel-source-version.rpm".
You must download the "kernel-version-src.rpm" (a true source RPM), then
do the "rpmbuild -bp" on it.  The reasons for not including a kernel
source RPM are documented in the release notes and I won't go into them
here.

Here's how to create the same "/usr/src/linux" stuff as you're used to:

1.	Download the "kernel-2.6.10-1.766_FC3.src.rpm"

2.	Install it:
		rpm -ivh kernel-2.6.10-1.766_FC3.src.rpm

3.	Go to the SPECS dir and do the preliminary build
		cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS
		rpmbuild -bp --target=i686 kernel-2.6.spec

4.	Copy the resultant source to /usr/src:
		cd ../BUILD/kernel-2.6.10
		mv linux-2.6.10 /usr/src/linux-2.6.10-1.766_FC3

5.	Set up your symlinks:
		cd /usr/src
		rm -f linux linux-2.6
		ln -s linux-2.6.10-1.766_FC3 linux-2.6
		ln -s linux-2.6.10-1.766_FC3 linux

6.	Edit the Makefile's "EXTRAVERSION=" to match your kernel:
		cd /usr/src/linux
		vi Makefile

The configuration files for the standard FC3 releases are in 
/usr/src/linux/configs or you can use the one from your /boot directory.
Copy it to "/usr/src/linux/.config" and fire up "make xconfig" or
whatever you used.  The idee-tape device is in

     Device Drivers->ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support->Include IDE/ATAPI TAPE

Remember that you need to enable it, then "make bzImage;make modules" to
build it, but you do NOT need to install the new kernel.  Just grab the
module and copy it to

	/lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/ide/legacy/ide-tape.ko

> Is there some alternate device I'm supposed to use?

Nope.

> Or do I bite the bullet and build a kernel?

Build the kernel source as I outlined above.  ide-tape is not part of
the standard kernel build as there are, pardon my language, damned few
people who used it.

> Or do I accelerate my plan to start backing up to DVDs?

ide-tape is ancient and not particularly reliable.  DVDs are one option.
So are things such as DAT or DLT (if you like tape).  At the current
cost of disk drives, an IEEE 1394 (firewire) or USB 2.0 enclosure and a
80GB drive make for a pretty cheap and reliable backup.  If you do it
right, you can even boot off it for emergency recovery.

> It would be a British understatement to say that I'm miffed.

Again, VERY few people used ide-tape.  It's been termed "legacy" so it's
not a standard module any longer.  Installing the kernel source does
require a couple of extra steps and the reason for it is in the release
notes (you did read them, didn't you?).  Building the module isn't hard.

Sorry, but you're one of the "edge cases" as far as device support is
concerned.
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
- ...Had this been an actual emergency, we would have fled in terror -
-                      and you'd be on your own, pal!                -
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