[plug] Kernel compiling Q's

[Craig Ringer]

> I downloaded the source
> for 2.4.12 and replaced /usr/src/linux/2.2 with the new ones (i did this
> with-out thinking of course, so not sure if this is the desired way) did
> all the compile stuff to add sound....
Untar the new kernel into its own directory (eg 
/usr/local/src/linux-kernelversion) and symlink /usr/src/linux to it.
That way you get to keep your distro's /usr/src/linux (which you rename to 
something sensible like /usr/src/linux-2.4.x-debian-1 or whatever is 
appropriate) and keep your kernel sources in /usr/local like is probably more 
appropriate. (Esp if you keep /usr/local/ on a separate partion like I do to 
simplify distro upgrades/changes).

> any way when i boot i get, when it's checking module dependencies, i get a
> whole lot of unresolved symbols (mainly sound related)
OK, I've had such problems with very recent kernels, mod deps behaving badly. 
Try grepping the System.map for the kernel you built for one of the missing 
symbols. If its there, grep /proc/ksyms for it and it'll probably turn up as 
somthing like kernel_sym_ver__kernel_sym. If so, disable module versioning in 
the kernel config and rebuild. Only thing that works for me, even "make 
mrproper" for a clean tree makes no difference. Ideas why this is, anybody? 
I've had it happen with sound modules, networking stuff, i2c and with 
lm_sensors on a patched kernel. But only since 2.4.9-ish.

You may also have to remove /usr/include/linux and /usr/include/asm and 
replace them with symlinks to /usr/src/linux/incude/linux and 
/usr/src/linux/include/asm respectively. Apparently this will be fixed by 
kbuild 2.5 / CML2 - speed the day.