2.6.18 vs. Debian Wheezy (testing)

[Ivan Shmakov]

I've tried to prepare a Debian Wheezy chroot with
debootstrap(8), but it failed with the following message:

FATAL: kernel too old

Indeed, I use the 2.6.18 kernel, which is quite old. However,
there's little I can do about it, since the system is running on
an (OpenVZ-based) “virtual hosting” platform.

Is there any way to have a Debian Wheezy chroot running under
2.6.18? I suspect that either ld-2.13.so or libc-2.13.so are in
charge; is it possible to rebuild these to support the older
kernels?

--
FSF associate member #7257

[Aragorn]

On Tuesday 18 October 2011 05:48 in alt.os.linux.debian, somebody
identifying as Ivan Shmakov wrote...

> I've tried to prepare a Debian Wheezy chroot with
> debootstrap(8), but it failed with the following message:
>
> FATAL: kernel too old
>
> Indeed, I use the 2.6.18 kernel, which is quite old. However,
> there's little I can do about it, since the system is running on

> an (OpenVZ-based) “virtual hosting” platform. [...]

Not quite what you're asking about, but there are more recent kernels
with OpenVZ patches - without looking up on it myself, I think there's
at least a 2.6.27 OpenVZ kernel available - and there is also an
alternative but similar approach to operating system level
virtualization present in the mainline kernel, called Containers for
Linux (abridged to "lxc" in package management).

Perhaps you should investigate this avenue?

--
Aragorn
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

[Ivan Shmakov]

>>>>> Aragorn <str...@telenet.be.invalid> writes:
>>>>> in alt.os.linux.debian, somebody identifying as Ivan Shmakov wrote...

[…]

>> Indeed, I use the 2.6.18 kernel, which is quite old. However,
>> there's little I can do about it, since the system is running on an
>> (OpenVZ-based) “virtual hosting” platform. [...]

> Not quite what you're asking about, but there are more recent kernels
> with OpenVZ patches - without looking up on it myself, I think
> there's at least a 2.6.27 OpenVZ kernel available - and there is also
> an alternative but similar approach to operating system level
> virtualization present in the mainline kernel, called Containers for
> Linux (abridged to "lxc" in package management).

> Perhaps you should investigate this avenue?

Somehow, I fail to understand how could I change the kernel used
by the company whose services I use.

Given that the change may affect many of their users, I don't
think that I would be able to successfully persuade them to
upgrade.

[Aragorn]

On Tuesday 18 October 2011 06:46 in alt.os.linux.debian, somebody

My apologies. I was under the impression that this was your machine,
rather than that it pertained to a virtual private server that you're
using on someone else's machine.

[Sven Joachim]

On 2011-10-18 05:48 +0200, Ivan Shmakov wrote:

> I've tried to prepare a Debian Wheezy chroot with
> debootstrap(8), but it failed with the following message:
>
> FATAL: kernel too old
>
> Indeed, I use the 2.6.18 kernel, which is quite old. However,
> there's little I can do about it, since the system is running on
> an (OpenVZ-based) “virtual hosting” platform.
>
> Is there any way to have a Debian Wheezy chroot running under
> 2.6.18?

Only if you rebuild the eglibc package.

> I suspect that either ld-2.13.so or bc-2.13.so are in

> charge; is it possible to rebuild these to support the older
> kernels?

Set MIN_KERNEL_SUPPORTED := 2.6.18 in debian/sysdeps/linux.mk and
vmin=2.6.18 in debian/debhelper.in/libc.preinst.

Sven

[Ivan Shmakov]

>>>>> Sven Joachim <sven...@gmx.de> writes:
>>>>> On 2011-10-18 05:48 +0200, Ivan Shmakov wrote:

[…]

>> Is there any way to have a Debian Wheezy chroot running under
>> 2.6.18?

> Only if you rebuild the eglibc package.

>> I suspect that either ld-2.13.so or bc-2.13.so are in charge; is it
>> possible to rebuild these to support the older kernels?

> Set MIN_KERNEL_SUPPORTED := 2.6.18 in debian/sysdeps/linux.mk and
> vmin=2.6.18 in debian/debhelper.in/libc.preinst.

Thanks! I hope to try it this week and will post the results.