Re: [Xen-users] Installing from source (git, hg) on a fresh debian box

[Brandon Lamb <brandonlamb@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 5:57 PM, Jamon Camisso <jamonation@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 04:54:00PM -0800, Brandon Lamb wrote:
>> Ok, so i have come across a few howtos/tutorials on installing xen
>> dom0 kernel, using git to download a patched? kernel tree, and getting
>> xen source from mercurial. Below is my steps for trying to install
>> this, can someone tell me if I am missing something, have a step out
>> of order or whats going on?
>
> From source, use http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/XenParavirtOps
>
>> 1) Clean install of debian squeeze, update apt-sources to include
>> lenny and sid repos
>
> Plain squeeze should be fine, are you pinning your repositories?
Sorry for the ignorance, Im not sure what this means. I just copied
and pasted what the wiki and various howtos said which was:
git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jeremy/xen.git
linux-2.6-xen
cd linux-2.6-xen
git reset --hard
git checkout -b xen/stable origin/xen/stable

I see now after reading the wiki page you linked that xen/master is
not the same as xen/stable (2.3.32.9), so I am rebuilding using
xen/master and will give that a go.

>> 2) apt-get install build-essential mercurial gawk zlib1g zlib1g-dev
>> libzzip-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev xorg-dev gettext libncurses5-dev
>> python2.5-dev texinfo texlive-latex-base texlive-latex-recommended
>> texlive-fonts-extra texlive-fonts-recommended transfig bridge-utils
>> uuid-dev easygit gitk bcc vim-full ssh chkconfig ntpdate openntpd
>> kernel-package module-assistant pkg-config libgnutls-dev libpci-dev
>> randomize-lines gcc gcc g++ make patch libssl-dev bzip2 gettext python
>> libjpeg62-dev libx11-dev libgcrypt11-dev bin86 libsdl1.2-dev libc6-dev
>> xen-linux-system-2.6.26-2-xen-amd64 dstat ifenslave vnc4server ethtool
>> bison flex
>
> Those look like all the required packages. make will complain if it is
> missing something, so you should be ok there.
>
>> 3) git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jeremy/xen.git
>> linux-2.6-xen
>> cd linux-2.6-xen
>> git reset --hard
>> git checkout -b xen/stable origin/xen/stable
>> git pull
>> make menuconfig
>> make -j4 bzImage
>> make -j4 modules
>> make -j4 modules_install
>> cp -a .config /boot/config-2.6-xen
>> cp -a System.map /boot/System.map-2.6-xen
>> cp -a arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.6-xen
>>
>> I set ext2, ext3, ext4 to be included NOT modules.
>
> No need for make bzImage, when you run make, do not use the arch/*
> bzImage. Instead, you'll see a vmlinux file in the top of your
> kernel tree. That is your pv_ops enabled kernel.
>
>> 4) Attempt to create initrd
>> xen1:/usr/src/deb# mkinitramfs -o /boot/initrd.img-2.6-xen 2.6-xen
>> W: kernel 2.6-xen too old for initramfs on
>> W: not generating requested initramfs for kernel 2.6-xen
>
> Also, when you do make modules/install, the kernel version is
> 2.6.31.6 e.g. you'll find the modules in /lib/modules/2.6.31.6/
> so specify that version and you should get a real initrd.

Since I was checking out xen/stable it is based on 2.6.32.9 so that
may be another part of my problem. I am now rebuilding using
xen/master

>> This creates a 0 byte initrd-2.6-xen which I can delete, run
>> update-grub2 and if I try to boot that kernel get a kernel panic, vfs
>> cant mount root fs on unknown-blockdev (or something really close).
>>
>> I imagine that is because there is no initrd to load drivers for the
>> hardware/fs or whatnot from?
>>
>> I dont understand why trying to run mkinitramfs says the kernel is too
>> old. Is there perhaps something in the .config that I need to change
>> or AHHHH...
>>
>> Anyway, thank you for any insight someone may be able to provide. I
>> keep re-reading the same google results over and over with no help.
>
> You've made it this far, and in just 3 short days, that's no small feat.
> You're 95+% there - one more shot at things and you should be all set :)
>
> Cheers, Jamon

I tried out the packages from debian lenny and within what seemed like
30 minutes had xen up and running with 2 guests, but then I started
doing reading and seeing that people report stability issues and
whatnot, and its not the "new way" of xen soo that lead me to doing
this install from source method.

I must say, it has been a good learning experience, its forced me to
read a lot more articles on xen that I would have by just installing
packages, got a bit of a history lesson, watched an interview of
jeremy, etc.

Thanks for the tips!

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