Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-15 Thread Bruno Wolff III
On Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 16:03:40 -0400,
  William Case <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> 
> Now that the bragging is over:  I would really like to find a logical
> way to climb into the functioning of the basic kernel while keeping
> blind allies and logic traps to a minimum.  I would use all suggestions
> and assistance that comes my way in order to get started properly .

A long time ago when I wanted to learn more about vms at a low level I added
some syscalls to the OS. They were simple functions, but things we had
use for. We had source on microfiche along with the generated binary code,
so that we could do binary patches to the OS even though we couldn't rebuild
from source.

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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread Patrick O'Callaghan
On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 20:11 -0400, William Case wrote:
> Hi Patrick;
> 
> On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 18:28 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 17:38 -0400, William Case wrote:
> > > Yes, I have been down that road with others.  It seems to be a bit of
> > > academic religious proselytizing.  You are a lowly student and
> > > therefore
> > > could never understand unless you devotedly sit at my feet and study
> > > for
> > > years.   
> > 
> > Then you misunderstand me. I have no desire to put you off, rather to
> > convey that this is exciting stuff.
> > 
> No, No, Patrick then you misunderstood me.  I was trying to give you a
> small complement for dealing in a straight manner rather than the usual
> pedantic crap one has to put up with ordinarily.

Point taken. Best of luck in your efforts.

poc

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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread William Case
Hi Patrick;

On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 18:28 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 17:38 -0400, William Case wrote:
> > Yes, I have been down that road with others.  It seems to be a bit of
> > academic religious proselytizing.  You are a lowly student and
> > therefore
> > could never understand unless you devotedly sit at my feet and study
> > for
> > years.   
> 
> Then you misunderstand me. I have no desire to put you off, rather to
> convey that this is exciting stuff.
> 
No, No, Patrick then you misunderstood me.  I was trying to give you a
small complement for dealing in a straight manner rather than the usual
pedantic crap one has to put up with ordinarily.

> poc
> 
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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread Patrick O'Callaghan
On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 17:38 -0400, William Case wrote:
> Yes, I have been down that road with others.  It seems to be a bit of
> academic religious proselytizing.  You are a lowly student and
> therefore
> could never understand unless you devotedly sit at my feet and study
> for
> years.   

Then you misunderstand me. I have no desire to put you off, rather to
convey that this is exciting stuff.

> I have no expectation of starting at the top and working down.  But
> the
> kernel must have entry points and exit points.  Examining where the
> major services start and end must have some value.

Well they mostly start and *don't* end unless something bad happens.
That's one of the things that distinguishes kernels from the more
familiar "read input; process; produce output" pattern of conventional
software. Of course kernels also read input and produce output, but the
model is on the whole not all that helpful. One of the main things a
kernel does is juggle a zillion things happening at once so they don't
interfere with each other (but can still communicate when required).

To some extent a lot of application software is getting that way too
nowadays. The difference is that apps can rely on a well-defined and
semantically rich base of libraries to handle events and keep all the
balls in the air, but the kernel has to do the heavy lifting itself. 

> Besides most
> learning is iterative -- one starts somewhere, understands a bit, and
> keeps going around until they are back at the start ready add more.

Naturally. As Pratchett says "give a man a fire and you warm him for a
day; set him on fire and you warm him for the rest of his life". Sorry,
wandering again ...

poc

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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread William Case
On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 16:15 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 16:03 -0400, William Case wrote:
> > Hi Patrick;
> > 
> > Thank you for asking.
> > 
> > On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 14:20 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > 
> > > Bill, I'm not too sure of your technical background so it's hard to make
> > > recommendations. I used to teach operating systems many years ago, and
> > > there were some things that always caused difficulty for students,
> > > because they don't arise in "normal" programming:
> > 
> > WARNING: What follows is some unembarrassed hubris! 
> 
> It wouldn't be hubris if it were embarrassed.

Logically true, but a repetition of ideas shifts the emphasis

> 
> > I have no technical background as you would call it.  But that has never
> > hindered me before. My Degree is in Arts: History, English and
> > Philosophy.  Even that doesn't mean much -- I went to University in the
> > '60s -- didn't study much.
> 
> That's not your background, that's your education :-)
> 
Only the first paragraph.  The second paragraph got snipped.

> [...]
> 
> > Bibliography 
> 
Spelling never was a strong suit.  Thank God for spell checkers -- but
missed that one.

> (Skipped the course on spelling did we :-) That's your background.
> 
> [...]
> 
> > The book that gave me the most assistance was "Computer Organization &
> > Design  The Hardware / Software Interface", 
> 
> Of course. Another classic. IIRC the Bach covers more ground than Lyons,
> but Lyons is literally a blow-by-blow account of how the thing works
> line by line. Tanenbaum is always a good read, but his approach is
> micro-kernel based and not that useful for looking at Linux (despite
> Linux 0.1 being based on Minix). This is also true of a lot of academic
> textbooks, because they want you to understand the stuff from first
> principles and some at least push a microkernel agenda (no religious
> wars about this please).
> 
> [...]

Probably all true.  Your critiques are a strong argument for exploring
the kernel myself. 

> 
> > My current interest in the kernel is because:
> > a) the kernel is naturally the next thing to dig into, and,
> > b) reading and questioning can only take you so far; a time comes when
> > one has to start exploring and using the real thing.
> > 
> > I have tentatively used 'LXR Linux' and 'google code search' for some
> > very basic questions and searches.
> > 
> > Now that the bragging is over:  I would really like to find a logical
> > way to climb into the functioning of the basic kernel while keeping
> > blind allies and logic traps to a minimum.  I would use all suggestions
> > and assistance that comes my way in order to get started properly .
> 
> Understanding a kernel is a holistic endeavour, i.e. you can't really
> "start at the beginning, go on until you come to the end, and then stop"
> as the King of Hearts told Alice, so to grok any part requires you to
> grok all the other parts first (not *completely* true, but it sounds
> nice :-)
> 
Yes, I have been down that road with others.  It seems to be a bit of
academic religious proselytizing.  You are a lowly student and therefore
could never understand unless you devotedly sit at my feet and study for
years.   

I have no expectation of starting at the top and working down.  But the
kernel must have entry points and exit points.  Examining where the
major services start and end must have some value.  Besides most
learning is iterative -- one starts somewhere, understands a bit, and
keeps going around until they are back at the start ready add more.

> That said, tldp.org has some stuff, e.g.
> http://tldp.org/LDP/lki/index.html (Linux 2.4 Internals, a bit old but
> still useful). You might find http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
> interesting as well. I've no doubt lurkers will appear to recommend
> other sources.
> 
> poc
> 
Linux from Scratch looks interesting.  Probably has everything in it
that I want to look at -- at least to start.  Thanks Patrick.

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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread Patrick O'Callaghan
On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 16:03 -0400, William Case wrote:
> Hi Patrick;
> 
> Thank you for asking.
> 
> On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 14:20 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> 
> > Bill, I'm not too sure of your technical background so it's hard to make
> > recommendations. I used to teach operating systems many years ago, and
> > there were some things that always caused difficulty for students,
> > because they don't arise in "normal" programming:
> 
> WARNING: What follows is some unembarrassed hubris! 

It wouldn't be hubris if it were embarrassed.

> I have no technical background as you would call it.  But that has never
> hindered me before. My Degree is in Arts: History, English and
> Philosophy.  Even that doesn't mean much -- I went to University in the
> '60s -- didn't study much.

That's not your background, that's your education :-)

[...]

> Bibliogarphy 

(Skipped the course on spelling did we :-) That's your background.

[...]

> The book that gave me the most assistance was "Computer Organization &
> Design  The Hardware / Software Interface", 

Of course. Another classic. IIRC the Bach covers more ground than Lyons,
but Lyons is literally a blow-by-blow account of how the thing works
line by line. Tanenbaum is always a good read, but his approach is
micro-kernel based and not that useful for looking at Linux (despite
Linux 0.1 being based on Minix). This is also true of a lot of academic
textbooks, because they want you to understand the stuff from first
principles and some at least push a microkernel agenda (no religious
wars about this please).

[...]

> My current interest in the kernel is because:
> a) the kernel is naturally the next thing to dig into, and,
> b) reading and questioning can only take you so far; a time comes when
> one has to start exploring and using the real thing.
> 
> I have tentatively used 'LXR Linux' and 'google code search' for some
> very basic questions and searches.
> 
> Now that the bragging is over:  I would really like to find a logical
> way to climb into the functioning of the basic kernel while keeping
> blind allies and logic traps to a minimum.  I would use all suggestions
> and assistance that comes my way in order to get started properly .

Understanding a kernel is a holistic endeavour, i.e. you can't really
"start at the beginning, go on until you come to the end, and then stop"
as the King of Hearts told Alice, so to grok any part requires you to
grok all the other parts first (not *completely* true, but it sounds
nice :-)

That said, tldp.org has some stuff, e.g.
http://tldp.org/LDP/lki/index.html (Linux 2.4 Internals, a bit old but
still useful). You might find http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/
interesting as well. I've no doubt lurkers will appear to recommend
other sources.

poc

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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread William Case
Hi Patrick;

Thank you for asking.

On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 14:20 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:

> Bill, I'm not too sure of your technical background so it's hard to make
> recommendations. I used to teach operating systems many years ago, and
> there were some things that always caused difficulty for students,
> because they don't arise in "normal" programming:

WARNING: What follows is some unembarrassed hubris! 

I have no technical background as you would call it.  But that has never
hindered me before. My Degree is in Arts: History, English and
Philosophy.  Even that doesn't mean much -- I went to University in the
'60s -- didn't study much.

I can say that I have made a very good living over the
years deconstructing, analyzing, reassembling and documenting logic
gaps in businesses, public policy and government programs over the
objections and obfuscations of owners, experts, professionals,
bureaucrats and politicians. In forty years of consulting, I never found
a system or entity I couldn't dig my way to the bottom of. 

I have used the same skills to learn much about Linux and computers in
the last three years.  And in the end, over all types of objections of
experienced programmers/engineers, those skills have seemed to prevail.

> 
> 1) I/O, especially interrupts. This implies at least a basic
> understanding of machine architecture.

> 2) Virtual memory systems and how they relate to real memory.
> 
> 3) How multiprogrammed systems manage lots of concurrent processes with
> seamless switching between them. The real nitty-gritty of how this is
> done is what separates the sheep from the goats. I regard it as the
> "pons asinorum" of OS theory.
> 

Since I first installed Linux three years ago, because I find the
subject of computers, operating systems, and programs personally
fascinating, I have read from cover-to-cover (without exaggeration), the
following text books:

Bibliogarphy 

"Computer Organization and Design" Second Edition : The
Hardware/Software Interface"
by David A. Patterson, John L. Hennessy

Bach, Maurice J.; "The Design of the Unix Operating System;"
Prentice-Hall Canada Inc.; Pub. 1986; ISBN 0-13-201799-7 025; DUOS

Rodriguez, Claudia Salzberg; Fischer, Gordon; Smolski, Steven; "The
Linux Kernel Primer, A Top-Down Approach for x86 and Power PC
Architectures"; Pub 2006; Prentice Hall Professional Technical
Reference; ISBN 0-13-118163-7; LKP

Stallings Ph.D., William; "Operating Systems Internals and Design
Priciples"; Fourth Edition, Pub 2001; Prentice Hall, Inc.; ISBN
0-13-031999-6; OSIDP4

Stallings William; "Computer Organization and Architecture, Designing
for Performance", Sixth Edition; Pub 2003; Prentice Hall, Inc.; ISBN
0-13-035119-9; COA

Tanenbaum, Andrew S.; "Modern Operating Systems", Second Edition; Pub
2001; Prentice Hall, Inc.; ISBN 0-13-031358-0; MOS


The book that gave me the most assistance was "Computer Organization &
Design  The Hardware / Software Interface", 

This book goes into complete, excruciating detail of how the CPU, memory
management, pipelining, interrupts etc function at the transistor, logic
gate, clocking and register level.  Far more detail than you might think
I need.  But I found after I had read through its 400 - 500 pages, even
if I only retained about 20%, huge mysteries had been solved and many
kernel questions had become trivial. And, it is always a resource I can
return to for answers to the more perplexing questions.

I have worked my way through K&R "The C Programming Language" plus parts
of C99.

Plus I keep a couple of high school level Physics and Electronics texts
near me as refreshers.  I have a couple of other texts I use for double
checking.

> None of this needs to be tied to the exact details of Linux itself, and
> in fact you can learn a lot from starting with a simpler system. In that
> sense, John Lyons' classic commentary on the Unix 6th Edition source
> code is one the best books ever written on this topic.
> 
> [Fellow oldies will recall Ken Thompson's famous comment at the start of
> the process dispatcher function (Line 2238 in Lyons' book): "You are not
> expected to understand this". :-]

As personal projects, I have dug into the functioning of two or three
essential hardware pieces and processes, taking them from the wallplug
to as far as I can, i.e bumping into kernel code.  I have documented for
myself most of what I have learned.

My current interest in the kernel is because:
a) the kernel is naturally the next thing to dig into, and,
b) reading and questioning can only take you so far; a time comes when
one has to start exploring and using the real thing.

I have tentatively used 'LXR Linux' and 'google code search' for some
very basic questions and searches.

Now that the bragging is over:  I would really like to find a logical
way to climb into the functioning of the basic kernel while keeping
blind allies and logic traps to a minimum.  I would use all suggestions
and assistance that comes my way in order

Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread Patrick O'Callaghan
On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 13:59 -0400, William Case wrote:
> Hi Patrick
> 
> On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 12:25 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 12:09 -0400, William Case wrote:
> > > Hi;
> > > 
> > > Just checking that I am doing this correctly.
> > > 
> > > I want to start exploring the Linux kernel.  (I realize when the time
> > > comes I should ask any in depth questions elsewhere -- but for now I am
> > > just looking for start help.)  I have 'git' installed.  I am ready to
> > > download the Fedora 9 source.  Members of my local LUG have advised me
> > > that I should be sure to download the 'git' kernel.  They mostly use
> > > Debian.
> > > 
> 
> I understand git is a version control system for linux.  Many members of
> my local LUG are Linux programmers who use git.  I am trying to catchup
> without being too competitive.
> 
> I was also going to install scope -- in the hope that would let me bop
> around without too much difficulty.  Major questions I will reserve for
> the kernelnewbies list.
> 
> > > I don't see anything in the source repo that might equal a 'git' Kernel
> > > -- just the regular ordinary source rpm; kernel-2.6.25-14.fc9.src.rpm
> > > 
> > > Should I download that or is there somewhere else an animal called or
> > > set up as a 'git' kernel??
> > 
> > Bill, 'git' is a version-control system used in the kernel development
> > process (and other places), so the "git kernel" means some version of
> > the kernel source as released by kernel.org, i.e. Linus and friends.
> > 
> I was hoping to substitute a fedora kernel.  That is, Kill two birds
> with one stone.  Learn some basics about my way around the kernel and
> git; and, be able to relate it to what is running on my machine.  A time
> will come when I will want to use it in a virtual machine (borrowed
> lingo -- I don't really know what I am talking about yet re: virtual
> machines).
> 
> > OTOH the Fedora kernel is a git kernel (usually a minor version or two
> > behind) plus Fedora patches. You can use yum to install it for your
> > reading pleasure without having to understand anything about git.
> 
> I have used SVN a little bit, so I am not completely new to version
> control systems.  One of the LUG members looked up the Fedora kernel and
> as you say, said it was near enough to the latest version "to make no
> never mind".
> 
> Let me put it this way.  Starting something new is when the major screw
> ups take place.  You can introduce yourself to endless grief because of
> starting stupidly. My experience with computers and programs so far has
> been that I can handle the details; its starting and stopping that is
> the hard part -- kind of like learning to drive a car.
> 
> If you have a better suggestion on how I should get started, I am all
> ears -- sincerely.
> 
> My goal is to examine and get a feel for the C code for some of the
> basic services provided by the kernel -- I don't anticipate learning all
> 12 million lines of kernel code.  I thought I would look at the major
> 'struct's and follow the pointers and constants definitions in the
> various struct fields from there.

Bill, I'm not too sure of your technical background so it's hard to make
recommendations. I used to teach operating systems many years ago, and
there were some things that always caused difficulty for students,
because they don't arise in "normal" programming:

1) I/O, especially interrupts. This implies at least a basic
understanding of machine architecture.

2) Virtual memory systems and how they relate to real memory.

3) How multiprogrammed systems manage lots of concurrent processes with
seamless switching between them. The real nitty-gritty of how this is
done is what separates the sheep from the goats. I regard it as the
"pons asinorum" of OS theory.

None of this needs to be tied to the exact details of Linux itself, and
in fact you can learn a lot from starting with a simpler system. In that
sense, John Lyons' classic commentary on the Unix 6th Edition source
code is one the best books ever written on this topic.

[Fellow oldies will recall Ken Thompson's famous comment at the start of
the process dispatcher function (Line 2238 in Lyons' book): "You are not
expected to understand this". :-]

poc

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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread Todd Zullinger
William Case wrote:
> I am in the process of trying to make up my mind which would be most
> useful to me.  Exploring the vanilla kernel, or the source for what
> I have on my machine.  At this point I only want to look-and-see,
> not build. Building will come later for me, I am sure.

If you don't mind learning a bit about git (and it seems you have
friends in your LUG that can help there), it may prove helpful in
poking through the source code.  Things like git blame can tell you
who madified each line in a file and in what revision.  That can be
handy when trying to follow the history and evolution of a file.

"git grep" is also handy and seems to be faster than "grep -r" to
search a large source tree (though I haven't tested that
methodically).

When it comes time to building your own kernel, then you can easily
follow the steps on the Fedora wiki to create a kernel that will work
nicely with your Fedora system.  The Fedora kernel aims to be as close
to the vanilla kernel as can be, but there are always at least a few
patches -- often from upstream kernel developers.

-- 
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~~
The most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is that if they
foul up, there's no law against whacking them around a little.
-- Eric Porterfield



pgpf8kTNSr6mt.pgp
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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread stan

William Case wrote:

Hi;

Just checking that I am doing this correctly.

I want to start exploring the Linux kernel.  (I realize when the time
comes I should ask any in depth questions elsewhere -- but for now I am
just looking for start help.)  I have 'git' installed.  I am ready to
download the Fedora 9 source.  Members of my local LUG have advised me
that I should be sure to download the 'git' kernel.  They mostly use
Debian.

I don't see anything in the source repo that might equal a 'git' Kernel
-- just the regular ordinary source rpm; kernel-2.6.25-14.fc9.src.rpm

Should I download that or is there somewhere else an animal called or
set up as a 'git' kernel??

  

Here is a howto for compiling the Fedora kernel and the kernel.org kernel.

http://www.howtoforge.com/kernel_compilation_fedora

Not exactly what you want, but will get you started.

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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ?? -- Typo

2008-07-14 Thread William Case

> 
> I was also going to install scope -- in the hope that would let me bop
> around without too much difficulty.  

I was also going to install Cscope --

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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread William Case
Thanks Todd;


On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 13:43 -0400, Todd Zullinger wrote:
> William Case wrote:

> 
> If you want to explore the kernel tree that makes up the kernel you
> are running in Fedora, you probably want to follow the steps at:
> 
> http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/CustomKernel
> 
> On the other hand, if you want to study the vanilla kernel sources and
> be able to read the logs of changes made, then cloning the kernel's
> git repository would be better.  You can clone Linus' tree via:
> 
I am in the process of trying to make up my mind which would be most
useful to me.  Exploring the vanilla kernel, or the source for what I
have on my machine.  At this point I only want to look-and-see, not
build. Building will come later for me, I am sure.

> git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git
> 
> (Either of these methods take up several hundred megabytes.)
> 
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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread William Case
Hi Patrick

On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 12:25 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 12:09 -0400, William Case wrote:
> > Hi;
> > 
> > Just checking that I am doing this correctly.
> > 
> > I want to start exploring the Linux kernel.  (I realize when the time
> > comes I should ask any in depth questions elsewhere -- but for now I am
> > just looking for start help.)  I have 'git' installed.  I am ready to
> > download the Fedora 9 source.  Members of my local LUG have advised me
> > that I should be sure to download the 'git' kernel.  They mostly use
> > Debian.
> > 

I understand git is a version control system for linux.  Many members of
my local LUG are Linux programmers who use git.  I am trying to catchup
without being too competitive.

I was also going to install scope -- in the hope that would let me bop
around without too much difficulty.  Major questions I will reserve for
the kernelnewbies list.

> > I don't see anything in the source repo that might equal a 'git' Kernel
> > -- just the regular ordinary source rpm; kernel-2.6.25-14.fc9.src.rpm
> > 
> > Should I download that or is there somewhere else an animal called or
> > set up as a 'git' kernel??
> 
> Bill, 'git' is a version-control system used in the kernel development
> process (and other places), so the "git kernel" means some version of
> the kernel source as released by kernel.org, i.e. Linus and friends.
> 
I was hoping to substitute a fedora kernel.  That is, Kill two birds
with one stone.  Learn some basics about my way around the kernel and
git; and, be able to relate it to what is running on my machine.  A time
will come when I will want to use it in a virtual machine (borrowed
lingo -- I don't really know what I am talking about yet re: virtual
machines).

> OTOH the Fedora kernel is a git kernel (usually a minor version or two
> behind) plus Fedora patches. You can use yum to install it for your
> reading pleasure without having to understand anything about git.

I have used SVN a little bit, so I am not completely new to version
control systems.  One of the LUG members looked up the Fedora kernel and
as you say, said it was near enough to the latest version "to make no
never mind".

Let me put it this way.  Starting something new is when the major screw
ups take place.  You can introduce yourself to endless grief because of
starting stupidly. My experience with computers and programs so far has
been that I can handle the details; its starting and stopping that is
the hard part -- kind of like learning to drive a car.

If you have a better suggestion on how I should get started, I am all
ears -- sincerely.

My goal is to examine and get a feel for the C code for some of the
basic services provided by the kernel -- I don't anticipate learning all
12 million lines of kernel code.  I thought I would look at the major
'struct's and follow the pointers and constants definitions in the
various struct fields from there.

-- 
Regards Bill;
Fedora 9, Gnome 2.22.3
Evo.2.22.3.1, Emacs 22.2.1

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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread Todd Zullinger
William Case wrote:
> Just checking that I am doing this correctly.
> 
> I want to start exploring the Linux kernel.  (I realize when the
> time comes I should ask any in depth questions elsewhere -- but for
> now I am just looking for start help.)  I have 'git' installed.  I
> am ready to download the Fedora 9 source.  Members of my local LUG
> have advised me that I should be sure to download the 'git' kernel.
> They mostly use Debian.
> 
> I don't see anything in the source repo that might equal a 'git'
> Kernel -- just the regular ordinary source rpm;
> kernel-2.6.25-14.fc9.src.rpm
> 
> Should I download that or is there somewhere else an animal called
> or set up as a 'git' kernel??

If you want to explore the kernel tree that makes up the kernel you
are running in Fedora, you probably want to follow the steps at:

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Docs/CustomKernel

On the other hand, if you want to study the vanilla kernel sources and
be able to read the logs of changes made, then cloning the kernel's
git repository would be better.  You can clone Linus' tree via:

git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git

(Either of these methods take up several hundred megabytes.)

-- 
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~~
Don't look for me in daylight where robots all assemble.  You'll find
me in my dark world, in my smoke-filled temple.



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Re: Fedora 9 'git' source kernel ??

2008-07-14 Thread Patrick O'Callaghan
On Mon, 2008-07-14 at 12:09 -0400, William Case wrote:
> Hi;
> 
> Just checking that I am doing this correctly.
> 
> I want to start exploring the Linux kernel.  (I realize when the time
> comes I should ask any in depth questions elsewhere -- but for now I am
> just looking for start help.)  I have 'git' installed.  I am ready to
> download the Fedora 9 source.  Members of my local LUG have advised me
> that I should be sure to download the 'git' kernel.  They mostly use
> Debian.
> 
> I don't see anything in the source repo that might equal a 'git' Kernel
> -- just the regular ordinary source rpm; kernel-2.6.25-14.fc9.src.rpm
> 
> Should I download that or is there somewhere else an animal called or
> set up as a 'git' kernel??

Bill, 'git' is a version-control system used in the kernel development
process (and other places), so the "git kernel" means some version of
the kernel source as released by kernel.org, i.e. Linus and friends.

OTOH the Fedora kernel is a git kernel (usually a minor version or two
behind) plus Fedora patches. You can use yum to install it for your
reading pleasure without having to understand anything about git.

Cheers

poc

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