Question about patching kernel for LVM

[cx2]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to install Sistina's LVM onto Redhat 6.2.
I've upgraded my kernel to 2.4.18, and built the LVM patch from the instructions on Sistina's website, but there's a bit that I need some help with.

From http://www.sistina.com/lvm_howtos/lvm_howto/Building_the_kernel_modul.html#SECTION00081000000000000000

I'm having some trouble understanding step 6:

# cd /usr/src/linux ; patch -pX < /directory/lvm-1.0.3-${KERNELVERSION}.patch


The question is, what value should I put in for 'X'? The patch path is:

/home/lvm/LVM/1.0.4/PATCHES/lvm-1.0.4-2.4.18.patch

The other thing that isn't clear, is how to activate LVM - is the vgscan and vgchange -ay all that is needed? Will this convert my current filesystems to LVM?

Thanks in advance for the help :)

cx2

[Kodjo Agbenu]

Hello,

Since 2.4.1, LVM is built in the Linux kernel. Therefore, you no more need to apply any patch coming from Sistina.

Recompile your kernel again : when choosing options (make menuconfig or make xconfig), go to "Multi-device support", then enable LVM.

One more thing : you need user-space utils (vgscan, lvchange, etc...). Therefore, you can find a RPM on http://rpmfind.net.

Last remark : don't forget to activate your LVM volumes early during the boot process. If your distro is a RedHat or Mandrake, edit /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit. Before the swap device activation, insert someting like :

# Start Logical Volume Manager (LVM)
action $"Starting Logical Volume Manager: " vgscan && vgchange -a y


Good luck.

Kodjo

[cx2]

Thanks Kodjo,

I'd already compiled my kernel with the LVM option, but this seems to be an older version (1.01), so I was thinking of upgrading it to 1.04. Is there any advantage to doing this?

Thanks for the help with the other bits too :)

cxtwo

[Kodjo Agbenu]

Hello,

In my opinion, no benefit should be expected from upgrading the LVM from 1.0.1 to 1.0.4, except some minor bug fixes.

Personnally, I recently re-installed my PC with RedHat 7.3, with lvm-1.0.3. Formerly, I was using SuSE 7.2 with lvm 1.0.1 without any problem. Of course, all on-disk structures are compatible accross 1.x versions. Even, I guess 0.x lvm data disks can be read with new lvm implementations, but I'm not sure.

For detailed list of changes, I would suggest the documentation generally located in /usr/share/doc/lvm...

Good luck.

Kodjo

[I_M]

Hi

>The question is, what value should I put in for 'X'? The patch path is:

Assuming your kernel source is on /usr/src/linux.
And you have the lvm-patch-file in the same directory.

In the top of the patch file, you find something like this.

diff -u --new-file --recursive --exclude-from /usr/src/exclude linux.19p4/Docume
ntation/Changes linux.19pre4-ac2/Documentation/Changes

This patch file expect to find linux.19pre4-ac2/Documentation/Changes.
But in your filesystem, no such directory name under /usr/src.
So you specify "-p1" to remove linux.19pre4-ac2 from the path.

In the online manual, you may find more detail.

Regards,