upgrade rh9 kernel to version 2.6.x

[K.C. Chan]

Have any one update their kernel and if so did they have to update mod-utils? I have tried going to 2.6.1, but when I reboot using 2.6.1 kernel, all my modules failed to load; It seems I will have to upgrade my mod-utils. But I am not sure if it is backward compatible with 2.4.x and I do not want to take a leap of faith. Could someone confirms if mod-utils (which works with 2.6.1) is compatible with 2.4.x? Thanks

[Steven E. Protter · Accepted solution]

Its a bad idea to use the eary versions of new kernels in production environments.

I could not use the Red Hat 2.4 kernel on my 7.3 boxes until 2.4.20 came out. All previous attempts resulted in unbootable systems.

The moral of this story is that even numberd last digits are considered stable and tested. The higher the version number is the better off you are.

Let someone ELSE test the bleeding edge stuff.

SEP

[Mark Grant]

You'll have to upgrade a lot more than just your modutils. Just do not do this yet.

However, if you really want to do this, find yourself a free 2GB or so partition and install a 2.6 based distribution (whenever one comes out) into this partition (making sure not to touch your existing partitions. Set up "lilo" or "grub" to dual boot between your two linux installs. Then mount all your existing filesystems on your shiny new installation. If all goes well, you are set otherwise, just boot your old one again.

[dirk dierickx]

it is not going to be straighforward going to 2.6 on rh9. as mentioned you'll ahve to update a several packages which are then under your own support (updates, fixes, security etc). However it seems like you can get to 2.6 using fedora, where packages are already available and updated as they appear.

[K.C. Chan]

All,
thanks for your input. I think I will take your advice and let someone else do the bleeding.

[Vitaly_9]

what about driver support?
could Compaq NC7771 drivers be compiled for 2.6.x kernels?

[Don_89]

I agree with the other posts, your better off installing a new 2.6 distro on a seperate partition in which everything has been compiled on the 2.6 kernel. Mandrake 10, Federoa Core 2 (released yesterday), Suse 9.1 and Gentoo all come to mind..