[CentOS] Problems with building a complete kernel

Wed Jan 31 14:20:16 UTC 2007
Phil Schaffner <Philip.R.Schaffner at nasa.gov>

On Tue, 2007-01-30 at 16:38 -0500, Mark Hull-Richter wrote: 
> I shoulda knowd....
> 
> Okay, this may seem dumb, but I imagine I've already been there....
> 
> Here's what I get when I try the install with rpm:
> 
> [root at localhost x86_64]# rpm -ivh kernel-*.rpm
> Preparing...                ###########################################
> [100%]
>         package kernel-2.6.9MHRsmp-1 (which is newer than
> kernel-2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr) is already installed

If the "newer" package is the non-working kernel from earlier attempts,
and not the one you are running, it should be safe to do

# yum remove kernel-2.6.9MHRsmp-1

or

# rpm -e kernel-2.6.9MHRsmp-1

Your naming convention seems to be confusing RPM.

> [root at localhost x86_64]#
> 
> Now, I _really_ want to install this, but when I try yum localinstall, I
> get this:
> 
> [root at localhost x86_64]# yum localinstall kernel-*.rpm
> Setting up Local Package Process
> Examining kernel-2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr.x86_64.rpm: kernel -
... snip ...
> --> Running transaction check
> 
> Dependencies Resolved
> 
> ========================================================================
> =====
>  Package                 Arch       Version          Repository
> Size
> ========================================================================
> =====
> Installing:
>  kernel                  x86_64     2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr
> kernel-2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr.x86_64.rpm   34 M
>  kernel-debuginfo        x86_64     2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr
> kernel-debuginfo-2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr.x86_64.rpm  961 M
>  kernel-devel            x86_64     2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr
> kernel-devel-2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr.x86_64.rpm   11 M
>  kernel-largesmp         x86_64     2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr
> kernel-largesmp-2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr.x86_64.rpm   39 M
>  kernel-smp              x86_64     2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr
> kernel-smp-2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr.x86_64.rpm   34 M
> Updating:
>  kernel-largesmp-devel   x86_64     2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr
> kernel-largesmp-devel-2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr.x86_64.rpm   11 M
>  kernel-smp-devel        x86_64     2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr
> kernel-smp-devel-2.6.9-42.0.3.mhr.x86_64.rpm   11 M
> 
> Transaction Summary
> ========================================================================
> =====
> Install      5 Package(s)
> Update       2 Package(s)
> Remove       0 Package(s)
> Total download size: 1.1 G
> Is this ok [y/N]: N
> Exiting on user Command
> Complete!
> [root at localhost x86_64]#
> 
> Since this is going to update the two *-devel packages, I need to know
> if this is safe to do, i.e., will this damage anything I need to get
> back to if the new installed kernel doesn't boot or work right (even
> though rpm says it's the same one)?

The -devel packages should have nothing to do with booting (unless you
have dkms packages installed that want to rebuild drivers at boot time -
not standard CentOS stuff).

If you want to install rather than update the "-devel" packages, put the
following (or something like it tailored to your preferences)
in /etc/yum.conf:

installonlypkgs=kernel kernel-smp kernel-largesmp kernel-devel kernel-smp-devel kernel-largesmp-devel

Phil