Kernel version 2.2.6 is now out with SMP Bigphysarea support and included below!
Arla, the free AFS clone, seems to be highly stable on the 2.2.x kernels.
It was suggested that people involved in the Level 2 Pilot Project (mainly people involved in the reference software for the moment) should use the same versions of the Linux kernel so that development and testing could be done on any machine. It was also put forward that these versions could be used by the rest of the ATLAS Trigger and DAQ community thereby facilitating the integration stage of the various trigger and DAQ parts.
For compiling the Level 2 Reference Software it is necessary to use a certain version of the gnu c/c++ compiler. This is egcs-1.1.1 and its associated libraries. Note that gcc-2.7.1.3 will not work.
A proposal was drafted and agreed upon at the Reference Software meeting of the 18 January 1999 at CERN.
The implementation of the proposal started as soon as the proposal was accepted and this page will document the current versions that are in the repository, how they were produced etc...
The contact person for the repository is Marc Dobson and the mail address is at the bottom of this page. Marc Dobson and Tony Wildish are the two people responsible for the repository.
The kernel repository for the ATLAS Trigger Group (though it can be used by anyone) is up and running.
In the table below the kernel versions currently available are listed with the patches (eg bigphysarea patch) used to compile them, and the name of the corresponding TAR file. The kernels (and associated files, like modules) can be downloaded via WWW or via AFS (recommended if installed). The root directory of the WWW repository is http://www.cern.ch/Atlas/project/kernels/. On AFS the path to the root directory of the repository is /afs/cern.ch/atlas/project/kernels/. This contains the repository directory, the www directory and the other directory. The first contains the kernels and patches, the secodn contains these web pages and the third contains the Arla AFS clone source and compiled ditributions.
A general document entitled 'Support for multiple Linux Kernel Versions in the ATLAS Trigger and DAQ environments' is available from the repository/doc directory as LinuxKernel.ps. It explains the idea behind the repository, how the automation of kernel builds was done, how to install the distributions, how to develop for a different kernel versions without installing the kernels, etc... This document contains a lot of information and it is recommended that all users of the repository read it before seeking help.
The tar files (zipped) of the compiled kernels and modules, and the tar files of the header files, can be found in the repository/dist directory under the filenames indicated in the table.
The sources for the kernels can be found in the repository/source directory where a README file will give you more information on using the sources if required.
Various scripts/patches used or available for the kernels provided can be found in the repository/patches directory, with a general README file and README files in most subdirectories. There is a patch for the rc.sysinit script that solves problems with loading the correct module versions. It is available in the repository/patches/rc.sysinit_script directory and has a README file. There is also a patch for the AFS startup script to enable AFS to be turned on/off using a boot option at the lilo prompt. The AFS startup script (original and patched), the patch, and a README file can be found in the repository/patches/afs_script directory. In the repository/patches directory you can also find the bigphysarea patches that were applied to the various kernels, the CTRL-C patch for the SCI driver and the ATM patch.
Log files of the kernel compilations can be found in the repository/log directory, and the scripts to compile the kernels can be found in the repository/bin directory with a README file for more information if you wish to use these scripts.
The recommended version to run is the 2.0.36 version with bigphysarea patch.
Kernel version 2.2.6 is now out with SMP Bigphysarea support and included below!
Note: Not all kernel versions in this repository have been tested. The recommended version is being tested at the moment and further information can be obtained from the responsibles of the repository.
Note: If running older versions of a distribution (e.g. Redhat pre-5.1?) and just using a later kernel version (e.g. 2.0.36), please update the modutils package. It was noticed that version 2.1.55 of the modutils package does not work (it is too old) but version 2.1.85 works fine. We are unsure from which version it works but please bear this in mind if having problems.
Note: In the table only the kernels with the BigPhysArea patch are shown except where these are not available. In that case the original kernels are shown. The reason for this is given in the section below on the BigPhysArea patch. For completeness all kernels (original and BigPhysArea if present) are available in the repository via AFS.
Please give the people responsible for the repository feedback on the kernels that you have used (so that we get an idea of usage and amount of testing undertaken) and any problems that you have encountered with the kernels so that we can update the repository and tell others about potential problems. Thank you in advance for your help.
The links from the Kernel+Modules field point to the tar zipped (using bzip2) distributions (compiled kernels and modules), and the links from the Headers field point to the tar zipped headers for that kernel.
source directory.
Note: The bigphysarea patch does not use any resources unless a boot option is included in the lilo.conf file or typed at boot time. Therefore using a kernel with the patch included is safe, even if you do not actively use the patch. The boot option is described in the bigphysarea patch README file.
Thanks to Jim Schlereth for trying out the autobahn driver used for S-Link devices with the 2.0.36.bphys-UNI kernel. Jim reports that it compiles fine and works fine too. The autobahn driver was provided by Jim for inclusion in the repository under the repository/drivers/ab directory.
The ATM patch can be used with the nicstar card and others. It is currently being used by the ATD group. More information can be found in the README file from the repository/patches/atm directory. The distribution of this ATM driver can be found at ftp://lrcftp.epfl.ch/pub/linux/atm/dist. It contains a patch to the kernel and a set of deamons and utilities for making it do something useful. The repository kernel tar files contain a patched 2.2.1 kernel and the binaries for the utilities too. These compiled kernels do NOT have the Bigphysarea patch.
A patch by David Botterill of RAL, enabling the use of CTRL-C in the SCI driver. It has already been incorporated into the standard kernel tree for 2.2.x kernels. The patch ca n be found in the repository/patches/sisci directory as ctrl-C.patch.
The Arla AFS clone is the primary solution for 2.2.x kernels (except for the 2.2.5-15 CERN approved kernel based on RH 6.0) as the Transarc (official providers of AFS) module does not load. It has successfully been tried with 2.2.0, 2.2.1 and 2.2.3 version kernels and is highly stable. So for those of you who try the 2.2.x series kernels please try this AFS clone too. It is available from the other/Arla directory. A README file is available explaining how to install it from the pre-compiled kernels or how to compile it for another kernel version.