Everything about UNIX kernels: development, configuration, compilation, design, etc.
12
votes
3answers
447 views
How much RAM does the kernel use?
This question is motivated by my shock when I discovered that Mac OS X kernel uses 750MB of RAM.
I have been using Linux for 20 years, and I always "knew" that the kernel RAM usage is dwarfed by X ...
1
vote
0answers
28 views
Why linux is a monolithic kernel, while you can load/unload modules (e.g. drivers)? [duplicate]
Hybrid- and Microkernels are flexible, in the way one can add any higher-level functionality as a module, is it not the same for linux kernels? Why then linux is called a monolithic?
1
vote
1answer
23 views
Upgrading Red Hat 9 (Shrike) kernel manually
I am following the instructions here on how to manually perform a kernel upgrade in Red Hat.
The current Kernel RPM's are:
kernel-2.4.20-8
kernel-headers is not installed
kernel-ibcs is not ...
3
votes
1answer
33 views
Compiling Kernel Question
When you compile a kernel from source how do you get hardware info and then know what drivers need to be kept in the kernel so the rest can be removed?
This is for a web server. I would like to ...
2
votes
2answers
27 views
Detecting Kernal Thread on Older Kernel Version
Looking at the proc man page (http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/proc.5.html) it is possible to detect which processes are kernel threads in /proc/<pid>/stat by looking at the flags value ...
4
votes
1answer
24 views
dmesg email digest
I have a remote server which has some issues (Seem hardware related) which means that it logs KVM errors and then sometime later it becomes unresponsive and locked up. There is an often an early ...
1
vote
3answers
65 views
Need small distro without a desktop or windows manager, just to run a single graphical app [duplicate]
I am looking for some help on this from a linux expert. I am very novice when it comes to linux so I am hoping someone can help out.
I need a small distro, that is stable. I don't need a full X ...
1
vote
2answers
30 views
Making a bootable pendrive for custom kernel
I read the tutorials to make a mimalistic custom kernel from here and am able to boot it up as explained in the tutorial over a virtual machine using GRUB as the boot loader.
I think it would be more ...
5
votes
2answers
104 views
Processes in Linux
As I understand it, process descriptors are stored in a doubly linked list data structure. But a fork can create multiple children for the same process, so that makes me think that there is a tree ...
4
votes
1answer
47 views
ttyS1/uart1 initialised but not accessible through /dev/ttyS1
I'm not sure at which level I am having a problem.
System is a LeopardBoard DM368 running TI's own SDK / LSP / BusyBox kernel, the core Linux kernel is 2.6.x so using serial_core.c driver model.
By ...
2
votes
1answer
32 views
User space to kernel space transition
Both physically (hardware, rings) and logically (software), what is user space to kernel space transition? And vice versa.
Or more generally what goes on when there is a "space" (or ring) transition ...
1
vote
1answer
54 views
LinuxMint15: Suspend to RAM not working
I just installed LinuxMint15 on an Acer Aspire V3-771G-73638G500Maii.
Hibernation works. But suspend to RAM does not.
When clicking suspend: After a few seconds the screen goes grey and then off. ...
4
votes
0answers
39 views
Ensure data doesn't linger after being deleted [migrated]
I'm trying to make a service that keeps as little data on its users as possible. To that end, I want to make sure that someone using forensic tools won't gain any more information than I would by ...
3
votes
3answers
70 views
Rings and run levels
The question stated below might not be technically correct(misconception) so it would be appreciable if misconception is also addressed.
Which ring level do the different *nix run levels operate in?
...
0
votes
1answer
31 views
How do I verify that the Linux kernel is not freezing when uploading or downloading large data over the ethernet interface?
How to verify if the Linux kernel is doing what it's saying for network interfaces? I have one network interface eth0 which has hardware support to do 1GB full-duplex.
I have prepared 2 box.
Now ...
2
votes
2answers
169 views
Why do people call Linux a kernel rather than an OS?
Why do people refer to Linux as a kernel rather than an operating system? To the best of my knowledge, the kernel is one part of the operating system.
1
vote
1answer
21 views
Kernel pppd task hung after running over serial port
I am trying to run the ppp daemon on the console port of my board which has p2020 processor with Linux kernel 2.6.32.
After running ppp interface ppp0 is not coming up and I get an error pppd blocked ...
0
votes
0answers
30 views
Where in the linux kernel are system calls dispatched? [migrated]
Firstly, I should mention that I'm working with the 2.6.32 Linux kernel. I'm looking for the code in the source that executes the proper system call based on the system call ID (defined in ...
1
vote
0answers
26 views
What is the best way to implement multiple timers in kernel module [migrated]
I am trying to build e kernel module which will be used by userspace program to setup timers. I am implementing it as a character device. What is the best way to implement multiple timers in the ...
1
vote
2answers
56 views
error: “net.inet.ip.fastforwarding” is an unknown key
I've been doing some research into improving performance for OpenVPN and I found out about setting fastforwarding to 1 but when I tried I got the error error: "net.inet.ip.fastforwarding" is an ...
1
vote
1answer
21 views
Why have a fake LR-WPAN driver?
In the Linux kernel configuration, a fake LR-WPAN driver can be enabled and added to the kernel that will be compiled. Why would someone want a fake LR-WPAN driver? I assume it would be for debugging, ...
6
votes
2answers
98 views
Are the outputs of /proc/meminfo, /proc/cpuinfo etc always in English?
I am writing code that relies on the output of /proc/meminfo, /proc/cpuinfo etc. Are the file contents always in English? For example, will MemTotal in /proc/meminfo always be MemTotal in all locales?
...
2
votes
1answer
88 views
How can I install Arch Linux on a Laptop with Intel GMA 4500 MHD?
I would like to install Arch Linux on my Acer TravelMate 5735Z. Sadly, it has a Intel GMA 4500 MHD graphic card. This means, I suffer from Kernel Bug [GM45] black screen at boot (0 backlight?).
When ...
4
votes
1answer
53 views
Is there any difference between these two configuration options?
Is there any actual difference between
iptables -P FORWARD DROP
and
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 0
?
I know that one is a firewall command while the other one is a kernel option. But:
I don't know ...
0
votes
3answers
50 views
Kernel panic after building kernel in Red Hat Linux?
I've been trying to build a new kernel for Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtual installs under VM Ware. I've followed these steps so far:
Download the kernel from kernel.org.
Extract the downloaded ...
3
votes
1answer
47 views
why would there be a load of 5 if there are zero processes in the runq?
This doesn't make sense to me, why would there be a load of 5 if there are zero processes in the runq?
12:00:01 AM runq-sz plist-sz ldavg-1 ldavg-5 ldavg-15
12:05:01 AM 0 708 ...
2
votes
0answers
53 views
How to specify an ISO as the location of root filesystem for GRUB?
I'm trying to understand the Debian "booting from Hard Disk" installation manual.
The process is as follows: I copy a kernel image, a ramdisk initrd and an ISO with installer to the hard drive and ...
1
vote
1answer
30 views
How can I compile, install and run the tools inside kernel/tools?
There are some tools in side the kernel,
<kernel source root directory>/tools
perf is one of them.
In ubuntu I think the tools inside this folder is available as package linux-tools
How ...
2
votes
1answer
44 views
What happened to `vga=ask` etc. in the newer Kernels?
I used to activate framebuffer mode in the "older" kernels with vga=ask, and later setting it to a value, once I've figured out which one works best for me.
Now, this option seems to be gone, the ...
0
votes
1answer
61 views
Could the Kernel stack of a process be empty, when a process is swapped out to a disk?
I am just curious to know whether the Kernel stack could be empty when a process is swapped out to a disk or not?
