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author | Alyssa Ross <hi@alyssa.is> | 2022-05-31 09:59:33 +0000 |
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committer | Alyssa Ross <hi@alyssa.is> | 2022-05-31 09:59:57 +0000 |
commit | 9ff36293d1e428cd7bf03e8d4b03611b6d361c28 (patch) | |
tree | 1ab51a42b868c55b83f6ccdb80371b9888739dd9 /doc/builders/packages/linux.section.md | |
parent | 1c4fcd0d4b0541e674ee56ace1053e23e562cc80 (diff) | |
parent | ddc3c396a51918043bb0faa6f676abd9562be62c (diff) | |
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Last good Nixpkgs for Weston+nouveau? archive
I came this commit hash to terwiz[m] on IRC, who is trying to figure out what the last version of Spectrum that worked on their NUC with Nvidia graphics is.
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/builders/packages/linux.section.md')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/builders/packages/linux.section.md | 41 |
1 files changed, 41 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/builders/packages/linux.section.md b/doc/builders/packages/linux.section.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..f669c720710 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/builders/packages/linux.section.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +# Linux kernel {#sec-linux-kernel} + +The Nix expressions to build the Linux kernel are in [`pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel`](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel). + +The function that builds the kernel has an argument `kernelPatches` which should be a list of `{name, patch, extraConfig}` attribute sets, where `name` is the name of the patch (which is included in the kernel’s `meta.description` attribute), `patch` is the patch itself (possibly compressed), and `extraConfig` (optional) is a string specifying extra options to be concatenated to the kernel configuration file (`.config`). + +The kernel derivation exports an attribute `features` specifying whether optional functionality is or isn’t enabled. This is used in NixOS to implement kernel-specific behaviour. For instance, if the kernel has the `iwlwifi` feature (i.e. has built-in support for Intel wireless chipsets), then NixOS doesn’t have to build the external `iwlwifi` package: + +```nix +modulesTree = [kernel] + ++ pkgs.lib.optional (!kernel.features ? iwlwifi) kernelPackages.iwlwifi + ++ ...; +``` + +How to add a new (major) version of the Linux kernel to Nixpkgs: + +1. Copy the old Nix expression (e.g. `linux-2.6.21.nix`) to the new one (e.g. `linux-2.6.22.nix`) and update it. + +2. Add the new kernel to the `kernels` attribute set in `linux-kernels.nix` (e.g., create an attribute `kernel_2_6_22`). + +3. Now we’re going to update the kernel configuration. First unpack the kernel. Then for each supported platform (`i686`, `x86_64`, `uml`) do the following: + + 1. Make an copy from the old config (e.g. `config-2.6.21-i686-smp`) to the new one (e.g. `config-2.6.22-i686-smp`). + + 2. Copy the config file for this platform (e.g. `config-2.6.22-i686-smp`) to `.config` in the kernel source tree. + + 3. Run `make oldconfig ARCH={i386,x86_64,um}` and answer all questions. (For the uml configuration, also add `SHELL=bash`.) Make sure to keep the configuration consistent between platforms (i.e. don’t enable some feature on `i686` and disable it on `x86_64`). + + 4. If needed you can also run `make menuconfig`: + + ```ShellSession + $ nix-env -f "<nixpkgs>" -iA ncurses + $ export NIX_CFLAGS_LINK=-lncurses + $ make menuconfig ARCH=arch + ``` + + 5. Copy `.config` over the new config file (e.g. `config-2.6.22-i686-smp`). + +4. Test building the kernel: `nix-build -A linuxKernel.kernels.kernel_2_6_22`. If it compiles, ship it! For extra credit, try booting NixOS with it. + +5. It may be that the new kernel requires updating the external kernel modules and kernel-dependent packages listed in the `linuxPackagesFor` function in `linux-kernels.nix` (such as the NVIDIA drivers, AUFS, etc.). If the updated packages aren’t backwards compatible with older kernels, you may need to keep the older versions around. |