Compiling Kernel 2.6.15.4 on Debian Sarge, I do not no what gone wrong with it?

[debian111]

Dear all,

I have problem and I do not know how to solve it myself. Last weekend I tried ( I said tried ) to recompile kernel on my Debian Sarge machine, but I encountered some problems.

After compilation and rebooting my macnine and choosing new kernel to boot I got error as follows:
modprobe: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.15.4/modules.dep : No such file or directory
umount devfs: not mounted
pivot_root: No such file or directory
/sbin/init:432 cannot open dev/console
kernel panic-Not syncing: Attempted to kill init

I really do not what to do in order to compile kernel, I have many manuals, and I read them as you can see I made procedure of compilation on right way ( Tell me if I am wrong ) but still I cannot solve above mentioned errors.

Please show me what I did wrong and what I should correct in order to make my 2.6.15.4 works.

Thank you in advance

The procedure I used to compile kernel and files I got after cmpilation is as follows.

I run make-kpkg kernel-image and after 20 minutes
DeusEtMachine:/usr/src# ls -l
total 52228
-rw-r--r-- 1 root src 13558552 2006-03-19 17:33 kernel-image-2.6.15.4_10.00.Custom_i386.deb
drwxrwxrwx 21 root root 4096 2006-03-19 17:44 linux-2.6.15.4
-rwx------ 1 root src 39846379 2006-03-18 16:11 linux-2.6.15.4.tar.bz2
DeusEtMachine:/usr/src#

In /lib/modules I have

DeusEtMachine:/lib/modules# ls -l
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2006-03-19 17:34 2.6.15.4
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 2006-02-25 10:11 2.6.8-2-386
DeusEtMachine:/lib/modules#

In /lib/modules/2.6.15.4 there are next files

DeusEtMachine:/lib/modules/2.6.15.4# ls -l
total 1008
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 2006-03-19 17:34 build -> /usr/src/linux-2.6.15.4
drwxr-xr-x 10 root root 4096 2006-03-19 17:34 kernel
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 201018 2006-03-19 17:34 modules.alias
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 69 2006-03-19 17:34 modules.ccwmap
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 212744 2006-03-19 17:34 modules.dep
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 813 2006-03-19 17:34 modules.ieee1394map
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 394 2006-03-19 17:34 modules.inputmap
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 21025 2006-03-19 17:34 modules.isapnpmap
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 182827 2006-03-19 17:34 modules.pcimap
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 98846 2006-03-19 17:34 modules.symbols
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 264449 2006-03-19 17:34 modules.usbmap
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 2006-03-19 17:34 source -> /usr/src/linux-2.6.15.4
DeusEtMachine:/lib/modules/2.6.15.4#

In /boot/ I have as follows

DeusEtMachine:/boot# ls -l
total 12964
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 63903 2006-03-04 15:51 config-2.6.15.4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 55809 2005-05-19 10:38 config-2.6.8-2-386
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2006-03-19 17:38 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4317184 2006-03-19 17:35 initrd.img-2.6.15.4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4317184 2006-02-25 10:35 initrd.img-2.6.8-2-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 814523 2006-03-19 17:33 System.map-2.6.15.4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 865733 2005-05-19 11:26 System.map-2.6.8-2-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1680929 2006-03-19 17:33 vmlinuz-2.6.15.4
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1097419 2005-05-19 11:25 vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-386
DeusEtMachine:/boot#

In /grub/menu.lst I have the next output
title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.15.4
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15.4 root=/dev/hda2 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15.4
savedefault
boot

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.15.4 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15.4 root=/dev/hda2 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15.4
savedefault
boot

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-386
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-386 root=/dev/hda2 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-2-386
savedefault
boot

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.8-2-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-386 root=/dev/hda2 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.8-2-386
savedefault
boot

[Matti_Kurkela]

The "pivot_root" message seems to suggest there is something wrong with your initrd image file. When you are using initrd, the kernel starts up with no real root filesystem - it has only the things available in the initrd. Any messages after the "pivot_root" error message come from not having a proper root file system available.

The initrd system is designed to allow some scripted operations very early in the boot sequence: setting up software RAID, checking out and activating LVM volume groups or initializing some special hardware.

After the script (/linuxrc inside the initrd image, if I recall correctly) is executed, the initrd image is replaced by the real root filesystem. This is the "pivot_root" operation. After that, the "init" process should be started and it should control everything that happens after that.

Because you get an error message from modprobe before pivot_root, it seems your configuration would require some kernel modules to be loaded from initrd before the root filesystem can be mounted. Because it is preferred that the initrd file is not too large, a specific initrd file is usually created for each kernel version.

The message "modprobe: FATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.15.4/modules.dep : No such file or directory" shows your initrd does not contain the "modules.dep" file for kernel version 2.6.15.4. Either the initrd creation process did not run the "depmod" command properly, or the initrd file does not contain any modules for kernel version 2.6.15.4.

It is a bit unusual that your initrd.img files for kernel 2.6.8-2-386 and 2.6.15.4 are _exactly_ identical in length. Did you try to use the old initrd file for the new kernel? That won't work.

There is a "mkinitrd" tool for automatically creating an initrd file. Boot with the old kernel, and run "mkinitrd 2.6.15.4". You should create a new initrd file for each new kernel _after_ you have installed the kernel and all its modules. If you do it in the wrong order, mkinitrd won't find the modules for the new kernel in /lib/modules, and the result might be a failure just like this.

[Sergejs Svitnevs]

Did you install your new deb package "kernel-image-2.6.15.4_10.00.Custom_i386.deb"?

# dpkg -i kernel-image-2.6.15.4_10.00.Custom_i386.deb


Regards

[debian111]

yes it is wierd that initrd.img files are the same, but I created initrd.img for kernel 2.6.15.4 using command

mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15.4 and after that in /boot directory I found file initrd.img-2.6.15.4

I did not use old initrd.img-2.6.8-2-386 from kernel 2.6.8-2-386 I made new one. I read many manuals and I followed procedure for kernel compiling but I have the same mistake again and again.

Yes after making kernel image using make-kpkg kernel-image I recived in /usr/src debian packet .deb
After that I installed .deb packet using dpkg -i .deb....
It was everything without any problems and after rebooting I receiver above mentioned error. I really do not know what to do, if you have samo free time plesa instruct me to solve this probelem I really lost my mind...I am going crazy.

Anyway thanks for your help.

Regards

[Pau Garcia i Quiles · Accepted solution]

Since kernel 2.6.14 devfs is no longer used and has been substituted by udev. That's the problem you are experiencing.

Take a look at this article to know how to build and install kernel 2.6.14 or newer:
http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/291

[debian111]

Hi all,

I very pritiete your help becuase you helped me to solve problem I have.

I used

mkinitrd -o /boor/initrd.img-2.6.15.4 2.6.15.4

and after reboot everything was fine.


Thank you

[debian111]

Thank you