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README: convert it to ReST markup
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Adjust the readme file for it to use the ReST markup:

- add chapter/section markups;
- use ``foo`` for commands;
- use :: for verbatim and script blocks;
- replace unsupported markup _foo_ by **foo**;
- add cross-references to other ReST files;
- use lower case on the section titles, to match other ReST files.

Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <[email protected]>
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mchehab committed Oct 24, 2016
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Showing 1 changed file with 58 additions and 47 deletions.
105 changes: 58 additions & 47 deletions README
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
Linux kernel release 4.x <http://kernel.org/>
Linux kernel release 4.x <http://kernel.org/>
=============================================

These are the release notes for Linux version 4. Read them carefully,
as they tell you what this is all about, explain how to install the
kernel, and what to do if something goes wrong.

WHAT IS LINUX?
What is Linux?
--------------

Linux is a clone of the operating system Unix, written from scratch by
Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across
Expand All @@ -18,7 +20,8 @@ WHAT IS LINUX?
It is distributed under the GNU General Public License - see the
accompanying COPYING file for more details.

ON WHAT HARDWARE DOES IT RUN?
On what hardware does it run?
-----------------------------

Although originally developed first for 32-bit x86-based PCs (386 or higher),
today Linux also runs on (at least) the Compaq Alpha AXP, Sun SPARC and
Expand All @@ -34,7 +37,8 @@ ON WHAT HARDWARE DOES IT RUN?
Linux has also been ported to itself. You can now run the kernel as a
userspace application - this is called UserMode Linux (UML).

DOCUMENTATION:
Documentation
-------------

- There is a lot of documentation available both in electronic form on
the Internet and in books, both Linux-specific and pertaining to
Expand All @@ -53,14 +57,15 @@ DOCUMENTATION:
- The Documentation/DocBook/ subdirectory contains several guides for
kernel developers and users. These guides can be rendered in a
number of formats: PostScript (.ps), PDF, HTML, & man-pages, among others.
After installation, "make psdocs", "make pdfdocs", "make htmldocs",
or "make mandocs" will render the documentation in the requested format.
After installation, ``make psdocs``, ``make pdfdocs``, ``make htmldocs``,
or ``make mandocs`` will render the documentation in the requested format.

INSTALLING the kernel source:
Installing the kernel source
----------------------------

- If you install the full sources, put the kernel tarball in a
directory where you have permissions (e.g. your home directory) and
unpack it:
unpack it::

xz -cd linux-4.X.tar.xz | tar xvf -

Expand All @@ -74,12 +79,12 @@ INSTALLING the kernel source:
- You can also upgrade between 4.x releases by patching. Patches are
distributed in the xz format. To install by patching, get all the
newer patch files, enter the top level directory of the kernel source
(linux-4.X) and execute:
(linux-4.X) and execute::

xz -cd ../patch-4.x.xz | patch -p1

Replace "x" for all versions bigger than the version "X" of your current
source tree, _in_order_, and you should be ok. You may want to remove
source tree, **in_order**, and you should be ok. You may want to remove
the backup files (some-file-name~ or some-file-name.orig), and make sure
that there are no failed patches (some-file-name# or some-file-name.rej).
If there are, either you or I have made a mistake.
Expand All @@ -90,68 +95,71 @@ INSTALLING the kernel source:
and you want to apply the 4.0.3 patch, you must not first apply the 4.0.1
and 4.0.2 patches. Similarly, if you are running kernel version 4.0.2 and
want to jump to 4.0.3, you must first reverse the 4.0.2 patch (that is,
patch -R) _before_ applying the 4.0.3 patch. You can read more on this in
Documentation/applying-patches.txt
patch -R) **before** applying the 4.0.3 patch. You can read more on this in
:ref:`Documentation/applying-patches.txt <applying_patches>`.

Alternatively, the script patch-kernel can be used to automate this
process. It determines the current kernel version and applies any
patches found.
patches found::

linux/scripts/patch-kernel linux

The first argument in the command above is the location of the
kernel source. Patches are applied from the current directory, but
an alternative directory can be specified as the second argument.

- Make sure you have no stale .o files and dependencies lying around:
- Make sure you have no stale .o files and dependencies lying around::

cd linux
make mrproper

You should now have the sources correctly installed.

SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
Software requirements
---------------------

Compiling and running the 4.x kernels requires up-to-date
versions of various software packages. Consult
Documentation/Changes for the minimum version numbers required
and how to get updates for these packages. Beware that using
:ref:`Documentation/Changes <changes>` for the minimum version numbers
required and how to get updates for these packages. Beware that using
excessively old versions of these packages can cause indirect
errors that are very difficult to track down, so don't assume that
you can just update packages when obvious problems arise during
build or operation.

BUILD directory for the kernel:
Build directory for the kernel
------------------------------

When compiling the kernel, all output files will per default be
stored together with the kernel source code.
Using the option "make O=output/dir" allows you to specify an alternate
Using the option ``make O=output/dir`` allows you to specify an alternate
place for the output files (including .config).
Example:
Example::

kernel source code: /usr/src/linux-4.X
build directory: /home/name/build/kernel

To configure and build the kernel, use:
To configure and build the kernel, use::

cd /usr/src/linux-4.X
make O=/home/name/build/kernel menuconfig
make O=/home/name/build/kernel
sudo make O=/home/name/build/kernel modules_install install

Please note: If the 'O=output/dir' option is used, then it must be
Please note: If the ``O=output/dir`` option is used, then it must be
used for all invocations of make.

CONFIGURING the kernel:
Configuring the kernel
----------------------

Do not skip this step even if you are only upgrading one minor
version. New configuration options are added in each release, and
odd problems will turn up if the configuration files are not set up
as expected. If you want to carry your existing configuration to a
new version with minimal work, use "make oldconfig", which will
new version with minimal work, use ``make oldconfig``, which will
only ask you for the answers to new questions.

- Alternative configuration commands are:
- Alternative configuration commands are::

"make config" Plain text interface.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -223,7 +231,7 @@ CONFIGURING the kernel:
You can find more information on using the Linux kernel config tools
in Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.txt.

- NOTES on "make config":
- NOTES on ``make config``:

- Having unnecessary drivers will make the kernel bigger, and can
under some circumstances lead to problems: probing for a
Expand All @@ -242,43 +250,44 @@ CONFIGURING the kernel:
should probably answer 'n' to the questions for "development",
"experimental", or "debugging" features.

COMPILING the kernel:
Compiling the kernel
--------------------

- Make sure you have at least gcc 3.2 available.
For more information, refer to Documentation/Changes.
For more information, refer to :ref:`Documentation/Changes <changes>`.

Please note that you can still run a.out user programs with this kernel.

- Do a "make" to create a compressed kernel image. It is also
possible to do "make install" if you have lilo installed to suit the
- Do a ``make`` to create a compressed kernel image. It is also
possible to do ``make install`` if you have lilo installed to suit the
kernel makefiles, but you may want to check your particular lilo setup first.

To do the actual install, you have to be root, but none of the normal
build should require that. Don't take the name of root in vain.

- If you configured any of the parts of the kernel as `modules', you
will also have to do "make modules_install".
- If you configured any of the parts of the kernel as ``modules``, you
will also have to do ``make modules_install``.

- Verbose kernel compile/build output:

Normally, the kernel build system runs in a fairly quiet mode (but not
totally silent). However, sometimes you or other kernel developers need
to see compile, link, or other commands exactly as they are executed.
For this, use "verbose" build mode. This is done by passing
"V=1" to the "make" command, e.g.
``V=1`` to the ``make`` command, e.g.::

make V=1 all

To have the build system also tell the reason for the rebuild of each
target, use "V=2". The default is "V=0".
target, use ``V=2``. The default is ``V=0``.

- Keep a backup kernel handy in case something goes wrong. This is
especially true for the development releases, since each new release
contains new code which has not been debugged. Make sure you keep a
backup of the modules corresponding to that kernel, as well. If you
are installing a new kernel with the same version number as your
working kernel, make a backup of your modules directory before you
do a "make modules_install".
do a ``make modules_install``.

Alternatively, before compiling, use the kernel config option
"LOCALVERSION" to append a unique suffix to the regular kernel version.
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -308,13 +317,14 @@ COMPILING the kernel:
reboot, and enjoy!

If you ever need to change the default root device, video mode,
ramdisk size, etc. in the kernel image, use the 'rdev' program (or
ramdisk size, etc. in the kernel image, use the ``rdev`` program (or
alternatively the LILO boot options when appropriate). No need to
recompile the kernel to change these parameters.

- Reboot with the new kernel and enjoy.

IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG:
If something goes wrong
-----------------------

- If you have problems that seem to be due to kernel bugs, please check
the file MAINTAINERS to see if there is a particular person associated
Expand All @@ -328,7 +338,7 @@ IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG:
sense). If the problem is new, tell me so, and if the problem is
old, please try to tell me when you first noticed it.

- If the bug results in a message like
- If the bug results in a message like::

unable to handle kernel paging request at address C0000010
Oops: 0002
Expand All @@ -348,7 +358,7 @@ IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG:
on making sense of the dump is in Documentation/oops-tracing.txt

- If you compiled the kernel with CONFIG_KALLSYMS you can send the dump
as is, otherwise you will have to use the "ksymoops" program to make
as is, otherwise you will have to use the ``ksymoops`` program to make
sense of the dump (but compiling with CONFIG_KALLSYMS is usually preferred).
This utility can be downloaded from
ftp://ftp.<country>.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/kernel/ksymoops/ .
Expand All @@ -358,13 +368,13 @@ IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG:
look up what the EIP value means. The hex value as such doesn't help
me or anybody else very much: it will depend on your particular
kernel setup. What you should do is take the hex value from the EIP
line (ignore the "0010:"), and look it up in the kernel namelist to
line (ignore the ``0010:``), and look it up in the kernel namelist to
see which kernel function contains the offending address.

To find out the kernel function name, you'll need to find the system
binary associated with the kernel that exhibited the symptom. This is
the file 'linux/vmlinux'. To extract the namelist and match it against
the EIP from the kernel crash, do:
the EIP from the kernel crash, do::

nm vmlinux | sort | less

Expand All @@ -383,18 +393,19 @@ IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG:

If you for some reason cannot do the above (you have a pre-compiled
kernel image or similar), telling me as much about your setup as
possible will help. Please read the REPORTING-BUGS document for details.
possible will help. Please read the :ref:`REPORTING-BUGS <reportingbugs>`
document for details.

- Alternatively, you can use gdb on a running kernel. (read-only; i.e. you
cannot change values or set break points.) To do this, first compile the
kernel with -g; edit arch/x86/Makefile appropriately, then do a "make
clean". You'll also need to enable CONFIG_PROC_FS (via "make config").
kernel with -g; edit arch/x86/Makefile appropriately, then do a ``make
clean``. You'll also need to enable CONFIG_PROC_FS (via ``make config``).

After you've rebooted with the new kernel, do "gdb vmlinux /proc/kcore".
After you've rebooted with the new kernel, do ``gdb vmlinux /proc/kcore``.
You can now use all the usual gdb commands. The command to look up the
point where your system crashed is "l *0xXXXXXXXX". (Replace the XXXes
point where your system crashed is ``l *0xXXXXXXXX``. (Replace the XXXes
with the EIP value.)

gdb'ing a non-running kernel currently fails because gdb (wrongly)
gdb'ing a non-running kernel currently fails because ``gdb`` (wrongly)
disregards the starting offset for which the kernel is compiled.

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