| .. _changes: | |
| Minimal requirements to compile the Kernel | |
| ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ | |
| Intro | |
| ===== | |
| This document is designed to provide a list of the minimum levels of | |
| software necessary to run the current kernel version. | |
| This document is originally based on my "Changes" file for 2.0.x kernels | |
| and therefore owes credit to the same people as that file (Jared Mauch, | |
| Axel Boldt, Alessandro Sigala, and countless other users all over the | |
| 'net). | |
| Current Minimal Requirements | |
| **************************** | |
| Upgrade to at **least** these software revisions before thinking you've | |
| encountered a bug! If you're unsure what version you're currently | |
| running, the suggested command should tell you. For a list of the programs | |
| on your system including their version execute ./scripts/ver_linux | |
| Again, keep in mind that this list assumes you are already functionally | |
| running a Linux kernel. Also, not all tools are necessary on all | |
| systems; obviously, if you don't have any PC Card hardware, for example, | |
| you probably do not need to concern yourself with pcmciautils. | |
| ====================== =============== ======================================== | |
| Program Minimal version Command to check the version | |
| ====================== =============== ======================================== | |
| bash 4.2 bash --version | |
| bc 1.06.95 bc --version | |
| bindgen (optional) 0.71.1 bindgen --version | |
| binutils 2.30 ld -v | |
| bison 2.0 bison --version | |
| btrfs-progs 0.18 btrfs --version | |
| Clang/LLVM (optional) 17.0.1 clang --version | |
| e2fsprogs 1.41.4 e2fsck -V | |
| flex 2.5.35 flex --version | |
| gdb 7.2 gdb --version | |
| GNU awk (optional) 5.1.0 gawk --version | |
| GNU C 8.1 gcc --version | |
| GNU make 4.0 make --version | |
| GNU tar 1.28 tar --version | |
| GRUB 0.93 grub --version || grub-install --version | |
| gtags (optional) 6.6.5 gtags --version | |
| iptables 1.4.2 iptables -V | |
| jfsutils 1.1.3 fsck.jfs -V | |
| kmod 13 kmod -V | |
| mcelog 0.6 mcelog --version | |
| mkimage (optional) 2017.01 mkimage --version | |
| nfs-utils 1.0.5 showmount --version | |
| openssl & libcrypto 1.0.0 openssl version | |
| pahole 1.26 pahole --version | |
| pcmciautils 004 pccardctl -V | |
| PPP 2.4.0 pppd --version | |
| procps 3.2.0 ps --version | |
| Python 3.9.x python3 --version | |
| quota-tools 3.09 quota -V | |
| Rust (optional) 1.85.0 rustc --version | |
| Sphinx\ [#f1]_ 3.4.3 sphinx-build --version | |
| squashfs-tools 4.0 mksquashfs -version | |
| udev 081 udevadm --version | |
| util-linux 2.10o mount --version | |
| xfsprogs 2.6.0 xfs_db -V | |
| ====================== =============== ======================================== | |
| .. [#f1] Sphinx is needed only to build the Kernel documentation | |
| Kernel compilation | |
| ****************** | |
| GCC | |
| --- | |
| The gcc version requirements may vary depending on the type of CPU in your | |
| computer. | |
| Clang/LLVM (optional) | |
| --------------------- | |
| The latest formal release of clang and LLVM utils (according to | |
| `releases.llvm.org <https://releases.llvm.org>`_) are supported for building | |
| kernels. Older releases aren't guaranteed to work, and we may drop workarounds | |
| from the kernel that were used to support older versions. Please see additional | |
| docs on :ref:`Building Linux with Clang/LLVM <kbuild_llvm>`. | |
| Rust (optional) | |
| --------------- | |
| A recent version of the Rust compiler is required. | |
| Please see Documentation/rust/quick-start.rst for instructions on how to | |
| satisfy the build requirements of Rust support. In particular, the ``Makefile`` | |
| target ``rustavailable`` is useful to check why the Rust toolchain may not | |
| be detected. | |
| bindgen (optional) | |
| ------------------ | |
| ``bindgen`` is used to generate the Rust bindings to the C side of the kernel. | |
| It depends on ``libclang``. | |
| Make | |
| ---- | |
| You will need GNU make 4.0 or later to build the kernel. | |
| Bash | |
| ---- | |
| Some bash scripts are used for the kernel build. | |
| Bash 4.2 or newer is needed. | |
| Binutils | |
| -------- | |
| Binutils 2.30 or newer is needed to build the kernel. | |
| pkg-config | |
| ---------- | |
| The build system, as of 4.18, requires pkg-config to check for installed | |
| kconfig tools and to determine flags settings for use in | |
| 'make {g,x}config'. Previously pkg-config was being used but not | |
| verified or documented. | |
| Flex | |
| ---- | |
| Since Linux 4.16, the build system generates lexical analyzers | |
| during build. This requires flex 2.5.35 or later. | |
| Bison | |
| ----- | |
| Since Linux 4.16, the build system generates parsers | |
| during build. This requires bison 2.0 or later. | |
| pahole | |
| ------ | |
| Since Linux 5.2, if CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO_BTF is selected, the build system | |
| generates BTF (BPF Type Format) from DWARF in vmlinux, a bit later from kernel | |
| modules as well. This requires pahole v1.22 or later. | |
| It is found in the 'dwarves' or 'pahole' distro packages or from | |
| https://fedorapeople.org/~acme/dwarves/. | |
| Perl | |
| ---- | |
| You will need perl 5 and the following modules: ``Getopt::Long``, | |
| ``Getopt::Std``, ``File::Basename``, and ``File::Find`` to build the kernel. | |
| Python | |
| ------ | |
| Several config options require it: it is required for arm/arm64 | |
| default configs, CONFIG_LTO_CLANG, some DRM optional configs, | |
| the kernel-doc tool, and docs build (Sphinx), among others. | |
| BC | |
| -- | |
| You will need bc to build kernels 3.10 and higher | |
| OpenSSL | |
| ------- | |
| Module signing and external certificate handling use the OpenSSL program and | |
| crypto library to do key creation and signature generation. | |
| You will need openssl to build kernels 3.7 and higher if module signing is | |
| enabled. You will also need openssl development packages to build kernels 4.3 | |
| and higher. | |
| Tar | |
| --- | |
| GNU tar is needed if you want to enable access to the kernel headers via sysfs | |
| (CONFIG_IKHEADERS). | |
| gtags / GNU GLOBAL (optional) | |
| ----------------------------- | |
| The kernel build requires GNU GLOBAL version 6.6.5 or later to generate | |
| tag files through ``make gtags``. This is due to its use of the gtags | |
| ``-C (--directory)`` flag. | |
| mkimage | |
| ------- | |
| This tool is used when building a Flat Image Tree (FIT), commonly used on ARM | |
| platforms. The tool is available via the ``u-boot-tools`` package or can be | |
| built from the U-Boot source code. See the instructions at | |
| https://docs.u-boot.org/en/latest/build/tools.html#building-tools-for-linux | |
| GNU AWK | |
| ------- | |
| GNU AWK is needed if you want kernel builds to generate address range data for | |
| builtin modules (CONFIG_BUILTIN_MODULE_RANGES). | |
| System utilities | |
| **************** | |
| Architectural changes | |
| --------------------- | |
| DevFS has been obsoleted in favour of udev | |
| (https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/hotplug/) | |
| 32-bit UID support is now in place. Have fun! | |
| Linux documentation for functions is transitioning to inline | |
| documentation via specially-formatted comments near their | |
| definitions in the source. These comments can be combined with ReST | |
| files in the Documentation/ directory to make enriched documentation, which can | |
| then be converted to PostScript, HTML, LaTex, ePUB and PDF files. | |
| In order to convert from ReST format to a format of your choice, you'll need | |
| Sphinx. | |
| Util-linux | |
| ---------- | |
| New versions of util-linux provide ``fdisk`` support for larger disks, | |
| support new options to mount, recognize more supported partition | |
| types, and similar goodies. | |
| You'll probably want to upgrade. | |
| Ksymoops | |
| -------- | |
| If the unthinkable happens and your kernel oopses, you may need the | |
| ksymoops tool to decode it, but in most cases you don't. | |
| It is generally preferred to build the kernel with ``CONFIG_KALLSYMS`` so | |
| that it produces readable dumps that can be used as-is (this also | |
| produces better output than ksymoops). If for some reason your kernel | |
| is not build with ``CONFIG_KALLSYMS`` and you have no way to rebuild and | |
| reproduce the Oops with that option, then you can still decode that Oops | |
| with ksymoops. | |
| Mkinitrd | |
| -------- | |
| These changes to the ``/lib/modules`` file tree layout also require that | |
| mkinitrd be upgraded. | |
| E2fsprogs | |
| --------- | |
| The latest version of ``e2fsprogs`` fixes several bugs in fsck and | |
| debugfs. Obviously, it's a good idea to upgrade. | |
| JFSutils | |
| -------- | |
| The ``jfsutils`` package contains the utilities for the file system. | |
| The following utilities are available: | |
| - ``fsck.jfs`` - initiate replay of the transaction log, and check | |
| and repair a JFS formatted partition. | |
| - ``mkfs.jfs`` - create a JFS formatted partition. | |
| - other file system utilities are also available in this package. | |
| Xfsprogs | |
| -------- | |
| The latest version of ``xfsprogs`` contains ``mkfs.xfs``, ``xfs_db``, and the | |
| ``xfs_repair`` utilities, among others, for the XFS filesystem. It is | |
| architecture independent and any version from 2.0.0 onward should | |
| work correctly with this version of the XFS kernel code (2.6.0 or | |
| later is recommended, due to some significant improvements). | |
| PCMCIAutils | |
| ----------- | |
| PCMCIAutils replaces ``pcmcia-cs``. It properly sets up | |
| PCMCIA sockets at system startup and loads the appropriate modules | |
| for 16-bit PCMCIA devices if the kernel is modularized and the hotplug | |
| subsystem is used. | |
| Quota-tools | |
| ----------- | |
| Support for 32 bit uid's and gid's is required if you want to use | |
| the newer version 2 quota format. Quota-tools version 3.07 and | |
| newer has this support. Use the recommended version or newer | |
| from the table above. | |
| Intel IA32 microcode | |
| -------------------- | |
| A driver has been added to allow updating of Intel IA32 microcode, | |
| accessible as a normal (misc) character device. If you are not using | |
| udev you may need to:: | |
| mkdir /dev/cpu | |
| mknod /dev/cpu/microcode c 10 184 | |
| chmod 0644 /dev/cpu/microcode | |
| as root before you can use this. You'll probably also want to | |
| get the user-space microcode_ctl utility to use with this. | |
| udev | |
| ---- | |
| ``udev`` is a userspace application for populating ``/dev`` dynamically with | |
| only entries for devices actually present. ``udev`` replaces the basic | |
| functionality of devfs, while allowing persistent device naming for | |
| devices. | |
| FUSE | |
| ---- | |
| Needs libfuse 2.4.0 or later. Absolute minimum is 2.3.0 but mount | |
| options ``direct_io`` and ``kernel_cache`` won't work. | |
| Networking | |
| ********** | |
| General changes | |
| --------------- | |
| If you have advanced network configuration needs, you should probably | |
| consider using the network tools from ip-route2. | |
| Packet Filter / NAT | |
| ------------------- | |
| The packet filtering and NAT code uses the same tools like the previous 2.4.x | |
| kernel series (iptables). It still includes backwards-compatibility modules | |
| for 2.2.x-style ipchains and 2.0.x-style ipfwadm. | |
| PPP | |
| --- | |
| The PPP driver has been restructured to support multilink and to | |
| enable it to operate over diverse media layers. If you use PPP, | |
| upgrade pppd to at least 2.4.0. | |
| If you are not using udev, you must have the device file /dev/ppp | |
| which can be made by:: | |
| mknod /dev/ppp c 108 0 | |
| as root. | |
| NFS-utils | |
| --------- | |
| In ancient (2.4 and earlier) kernels, the nfs server needed to know | |
| about any client that expected to be able to access files via NFS. This | |
| information would be given to the kernel by ``mountd`` when the client | |
| mounted the filesystem, or by ``exportfs`` at system startup. exportfs | |
| would take information about active clients from ``/var/lib/nfs/rmtab``. | |
| This approach is quite fragile as it depends on rmtab being correct | |
| which is not always easy, particularly when trying to implement | |
| fail-over. Even when the system is working well, ``rmtab`` suffers from | |
| getting lots of old entries that never get removed. | |
| With modern kernels we have the option of having the kernel tell mountd | |
| when it gets a request from an unknown host, and mountd can give | |
| appropriate export information to the kernel. This removes the | |
| dependency on ``rmtab`` and means that the kernel only needs to know about | |
| currently active clients. | |
| To enable this new functionality, you need to:: | |
| mount -t nfsd nfsd /proc/fs/nfsd | |
| before running exportfs or mountd. It is recommended that all NFS | |
| services be protected from the internet-at-large by a firewall where | |
| that is possible. | |
| mcelog | |
| ------ | |
| On x86 kernels the mcelog utility is needed to process and log machine check | |
| events when ``CONFIG_X86_MCE`` is enabled. Machine check events are errors | |
| reported by the CPU. Processing them is strongly encouraged. | |
| Kernel documentation | |
| ******************** | |
| Sphinx | |
| ------ | |
| Please see :ref:`sphinx_install` in Documentation/doc-guide/sphinx.rst | |
| for details about Sphinx requirements. | |
| rustdoc | |
| ------- | |
| ``rustdoc`` is used to generate the documentation for Rust code. Please see | |
| Documentation/rust/general-information.rst for more information. | |
| Getting updated software | |
| ======================== | |
| Kernel compilation | |
| ****************** | |
| gcc | |
| --- | |
| - <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/gcc/> | |
| Clang/LLVM | |
| ---------- | |
| - :ref:`Getting LLVM <getting_llvm>`. | |
| Rust | |
| ---- | |
| - Documentation/rust/quick-start.rst. | |
| bindgen | |
| ------- | |
| - Documentation/rust/quick-start.rst. | |
| Make | |
| ---- | |
| - <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/make/> | |
| Bash | |
| ---- | |
| - <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bash/> | |
| Binutils | |
| -------- | |
| - <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/devel/binutils/> | |
| Flex | |
| ---- | |
| - <https://github.com/westes/flex/releases> | |
| Bison | |
| ----- | |
| - <ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/bison/> | |
| OpenSSL | |
| ------- | |
| - <https://www.openssl.org/> | |
| System utilities | |
| **************** | |
| Util-linux | |
| ---------- | |
| - <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/> | |
| Kmod | |
| ---- | |
| - <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/kmod/> | |
| - <https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/kernel/kmod/kmod.git> | |
| Ksymoops | |
| -------- | |
| - <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/v2.4/> | |
| Mkinitrd | |
| -------- | |
| - <https://code.launchpad.net/initrd-tools/main> | |
| E2fsprogs | |
| --------- | |
| - <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/tytso/e2fsprogs/> | |
| - <https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/fs/ext2/e2fsprogs.git/> | |
| JFSutils | |
| -------- | |
| - <https://jfs.sourceforge.net/> | |
| Xfsprogs | |
| -------- | |
| - <https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/fs/xfs/xfsprogs-dev.git> | |
| - <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/fs/xfs/xfsprogs/> | |
| Pcmciautils | |
| ----------- | |
| - <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/pcmcia/> | |
| Quota-tools | |
| ----------- | |
| - <https://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxquota/> | |
| Intel P6 microcode | |
| ------------------ | |
| - <https://downloadcenter.intel.com/> | |
| udev | |
| ---- | |
| - <https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/udev.html> | |
| FUSE | |
| ---- | |
| - <https://github.com/libfuse/libfuse/releases> | |
| mcelog | |
| ------ | |
| - <https://www.mcelog.org/> | |
| Networking | |
| ********** | |
| PPP | |
| --- | |
| - <https://download.samba.org/pub/ppp/> | |
| - <https://git.ozlabs.org/?p=ppp.git> | |
| - <https://github.com/paulusmack/ppp/> | |
| NFS-utils | |
| --------- | |
| - <https://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=14> | |
| - <https://nfs.sourceforge.net/> | |
| Iptables | |
| -------- | |
| - <https://netfilter.org/projects/iptables/index.html> | |
| Ip-route2 | |
| --------- | |
| - <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/net/iproute2/> | |
| OProfile | |
| -------- | |
| - <https://oprofile.sf.net/download/> | |
| Kernel documentation | |
| ******************** | |
| Sphinx | |
| ------ | |
| - <https://www.sphinx-doc.org/> |