On Wed, Mar 24, 2004 at 04:30:09PM -0500, Matthew Saltzman wrote:
(1) You want the kernel-source RPM, not the kernel SRPM. (2) Update your kernel and get the matching kernel-source RPM.
$ rpm -q kernel kernel-source kernel-2.4.22-1.2174.nptl kernel-source-2.4.22-1.2174.nptl
Thank you, and thanks to all who answered.
I got some funny looks from coworkers when I exclaimed that we needed a source rpm, not a src rpm.
That's because they don't understand what a src.rpm is and what a source.rpm is.
The kernel-<blah>.src.rpm is by convention the rpm from which various kernel-<blah>.rpm's are built. A src.rpm contains sources, spec file and patches. Remember rpm is as much a build management as a package management system..
Look in 'rpm -qpl kernel-<blah>.src.rpm ' It contains files that are placed in BUILD SPEC, and SRC etc.. when you rpm -i the .src.rpm file. (Read info at www.rpm.org for more )
The kernel-<blah>.src.rpm contains a kernel.spec file and kernel config files, a pristine tar ball of the kernel source, plus lots of patches that are applied to the pristine kernel tar ball during the rpmbuild process.
During the kernel-<blah>.src.rpm rpmbuild process, an rpm called kernel-source-<blah>.rpm is usually created. It contains a fully patched 'source tree' that matches exactly the kernel-<blah>.rpm packages for the various kernels that are built ..
In summary, kernel-<blah>.src.rpm contains an un-patched kernel tar ball, and patches to build kernel rpms and kernel-source rpm. The kernel-source rpm contains a patched kernel source tree that matches the kernel rpms built from the src.rpm package.
The purpose of kernel-source rpm ? Just in case applications (Like VMware) need to access a fully patched source tree that matches your currently running kernel - to build kernel modules for example. Also, custom kernels can be built by hand , outside the rpm build management system, by installing the kernel-source rpm and doing the conventional kernel build sequence of commands. That saves you the effort of getting the pristine kernel.org tar ball, applying the multitude of patches that Fedora 2.4 kernel has by hand..
Cheers, Michael
