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Diffstat (limited to 'chapter05/hostreqs.xml')
| -rw-r--r-- | chapter05/hostreqs.xml | 30 |
1 files changed, 29 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/chapter05/hostreqs.xml b/chapter05/hostreqs.xml index c4a216a24..310d450d1 100644 --- a/chapter05/hostreqs.xml +++ b/chapter05/hostreqs.xml @@ -7,6 +7,34 @@ <title>Host System Requirements</title> <?dbhtml filename="hostreqs.html"?> -<para>See testing.</para> +<para>The host must be running at least a 2.6.2 kernel compiled with +GCC-3.0 or higher. There are two main reasons for this high +requirement. First, the Native POSIX Threading Library (NPTL) +test suite will segfault if the host's kernel has not been compiled with +GCC-3.0 or a later version. Secondly, the 2.6.2 or later version of +the kernel is required for the use of Udev. Udev creates devices +dynamically by reading from the <systemitem +class="filesystem">sysfs</systemitem> file system. However, support +for this filesystem has only recently been implemented in most of +the kernel drivers. We must be sure that all critical system devices +get created properly.</para> + +<para>In order to determine whether the host kernel meets the +requirements outlined above, run the following command:</para> + +<screen><userinput>cat /proc/version</userinput></screen> + +<para>This will produce output similar to:</para> + +<screen><computeroutput>Linux version 2.6.2 (user@host) (gcc version 3.4.0) #1 + Tue Apr 20 21:22:18 GMT 2004</computeroutput></screen> + +<para>If the results of the above command state that the host kernel +was not compiled using a GCC-3.0 (or later) compiler, one will need to +be compiled. The host system will then need to be rebooted to use the +newly compiled kernel. Instructions for compiling the kernel and +configuring the boot loader (assuming the host uses GRUB) are located +in <xref linkend="chapter-bootable"/>.</para> </sect1> + |