[Pkg-xen-devel] The debian dom0 64 bits kernel crashes at boot time

[Ian Campbell]

On Wed, 2008-11-26 at 10:24 +0800, Thomas Goirand wrote:
> Ian Campbell wrote:
> > On Wed, 2008-11-26 at 01:41 +0800, Thomas Goirand wrote:
> >> Paul van der Vlis wrote:
> >>> I also use this kernel, without problems. Do you use this kernel?
> >>>
> >>> http://packages.debian.org/lenny/linux-image-2.6.26-1-xen-amd64
> >>> version 2.6.26-10.
> >>>
> >>> xen2:/usr/local/sbin# uname -a
> >>> Linux xen2.build2be.nl 2.6.26-1-xen-amd64 #1 SMP Sat Nov 8 21:20:04 UTC
> >>> 2008 x86_64 GNU/Linux
> >> I did, and as I told you, it crashes in less than 2 seconds at boot
> >> time. In fact, I tried BOTH the -8 and then -10, and they do the same.
> > 
> > Can we have a full bug report on that issue please (or a pointer to an
> > existing one, I must have missed it).
> 
> How do you suggest me to do such log? It's hard to give because it's
> rebooting one second after it crashes. If I'm not mistaking it's
> crashing in a setup_cpu function (I don't remember the exact name).

Try adding noreboot to the hypervisor command line or (better) use a
serial console and capture the complete log. Just providing a single
line as you have done in your next email is not usually sufficient for
people to help you, you should include as much information as you can
gather. That said perhaps you are seeing the same symptoms as
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=502849 ?

> > You mean a Linux kernel with CONFIG_XEN=y? (some people say "Xen kernel"
> > when they mean "Xen hypervisor").
> 
> Yes, with dom0 support.
> 
> > If you meant the former then you compile it in just the same way as a
> > non-CONFIG_XEN kernel, i.e. with make-kpkg or simply by hand, or maybe
> > with "make deb".
> >
> > If you mean the latter then I don't think there is a "Debian way" over
> > and above apt-get source, debuild and friends like any other package.
> 
> By hand, I know how. With make-kpkg as well. But how do I do if I want
> to create the exact same linux-image-2.6.26-1-xen-amd64 as you did,
> using YOUR sources? I tried doing a dget on the .dsc, then doing
> dpkg-buildpackage, but this didn't produce the expected package, plus
> it's very long, as I saw it was building about 5 kernels (without
> virtulalization, vserver, etc.) when I really only need the Xen one to
> try to debug it...

Well, it sounds like you did the right thing if you want to rebuild the
full Debian kernel set but as you've seen it takes a very long time if
all you want is a single Xen image. This is precisely the usecase for
which make-kpkg exists, why do you not want to use it? If you start with
the same .config the package should contain a functional identical
kernel. 

I'm not sure why it didn't product the expected packages (aside: please
get into the habit of describing exactly what you did and exactly what
went wrong, you one line bug reports are generally not too useful). What
packages did it produce? Did you check the logs for errors? I don't
normally use dpkg-buildpackage directly, I use debuild (from devscripts)
but I don't think it would make any difference.

If you are looking to simply debug the kernel (as opposed to deploy it
fully) then I would usually use the kernel's own build system not the
Debian packages to do "make deb-pkg ; dpkg -i ... ; mkinitramfs ... ;
update-grub", which avoids long build cycles by only rebuilding what is
necessary.

> One last thing I have in mind. My laptop comes with a e1000e ethernet
> and 5300 wifi (both from Intel). Both of them only works on 2.6.27,
> before it's either buggy or simply not working at all. Should I try to
> create a patch against the current Debian kernel (kernel 2.6.26) so it
> backports the drivers from 2.6.27, and it's included in Debian? I think
> I could work on that if that helps having support for this hardware.

You'd have to ask the kernel team about that. I don't think they would
accept a wholesale update at this stage in the Lenny release process but
they might be interested in targeted bug fixes.

Ian.
-- 
Ian Campbell

"It is easier to port a shell than a shell script."
		-- Larry Wall
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