# Getting vanilla-sources + XFS + preempt to play nicely...

## Utoxin

Can someone who has managed this contact me? My kernel compile keeps bombing out with the following message:

```

gcc -D__KERNEL__ -I/usr/src/linux-2.4.18/include -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wno-trigraphs -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common -pipe -mpreferred-stack-boundary=2 -march=athlon    -I.. -funsigned-char -DKBUILD_BASENAME=xfs_super  -c -o xfs_super.o xfs_super.c

{standard input}: Assembler messages:

{standard input}:1157: Error: suffix or operands invalid for `bsf'

make[4]: *** [xfs_super.o] Error 1

make[4]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.18/fs/xfs/linux'

make[3]: *** [first_rule] Error 2

make[3]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.18/fs/xfs/linux'

make[2]: *** [_subdir_linux] Error 2

make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.18/fs/xfs'

make[1]: *** [_subdir_xfs] Error 2

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.18/fs'

make: *** [_dir_fs] Error 2

```

Help would be greatly appreciated.

Alternately: The reason I'm trying the vanilla-sources route is because xfsdump is corrupting my filesystem, and I thought a cleaner kernel might help. If anyone can give some pointers to help with that, I'd be greatful. I'd show you the error message, but my box goes down when I get it, so it's hard to get a copy.

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## JefP@@

I have no clue ...

I downloaded the cvs xfs patch for the kernel, from the sgi website ... It should handle preemptive nicely, although it's still in devel. I haven't had any probs with my kernel, so far...

using : vanilla 2.4.18 sources with preemptive patch and cvs xfs patch

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## Utoxin

I've set vanilla-sources aside for now... Now trying the 2.5-xfs cvs tree from SGI to see if it'll compile cleanly.

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## kode54

I got it to compile a working kernel, which seemed to have some problems. Vesafb wouldn't scroll properly using the same settings as with 2.4, I had a hell of a time getting nvidia-kernel to build properly, then it would proceed to take my whole system down when I tried to start X. Later, while examining some source files in nano, I got a sudden nano[#] exited with preempt_count of 1 and immediate kernel oops, which froze my system. I decided to reboot with my backup 2.4.19-gentoo-r7 and compiled SGI's 2.4.19-pre10-xfs source. I may later switch to -rc1, or just wait until the final 2.4.19 release.

You may not have the same problems, since I might have missed some fixes. Your mileage may vary.

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## AutoBot

Did you have this problem before you switched to gcc3?

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## Utoxin

No idea. I wasn't doing the backup back then.  :Wink:  And the backup worked a few times, then started crashing my filesystem, requiring a reboot (hard reset) to recover.

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## AutoBot

Have you tried the xfs-sources kernel ?

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## Utoxin

Not yet. I'd really like to have pre-empt, but I'm beginning to think I'll have to give up on that for now. Too many reports of problems with that combination.

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## AutoBot

Yeah I switched from xfs to ext3 because I wanted preempt, but then ext3 was too slow for my tastes so when I built a gcc3 based gentoo I went with ReiserFS and am now quite happy.

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## Utoxin

How stable has your Reiser been? And is there any way to convert to it without having to back up all my data somewhere? (I still /would/, of course, but I'd like to know I wouldn't have to use that backup.)

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## AutoBot

There is no way to convert an XFS partition to ReiserFS, so you will have to back it up, zero out the partition, make a reiserfs partition, then move all your data back.

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## Utoxin

Ickie.   :Confused: 

Well, I suppose I'll look into figuring out a good way to do that easily on my system. I suppose I could boot with the stage1 ISO, and tarball the whole drive onto my fat partition, then do the format, and untar it back. Sound feasible?

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## AutoBot

Yep, I have done it before.

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## AutoBot

But if you have a cdburner, broadband, and a little time I would suggest using the knoppix live cd as you can't get much better than a rescue disk that can run kde or gnome  :Very Happy: 

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

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## Utoxin

Oooooh. Interesting idea! Downloading now.

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## Utoxin

I see one problem (maybe). Does it have ReiserFS support built into it's kernel?

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## Utoxin

Okay. Found Reiser in the changelog, so I guess it's there. (I think. It's in german.)

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## AutoBot

It has ReiserFS support, here is quite impressive list of packages it includes:

http://download.linuxtag.org/knoppix/packages.txt

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## AutoBot

Oh and wait till you see how well the automatic hardware configuration figures out what you have  :Very Happy: 

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## Utoxin

Bah. Another hour to wait while it downloads the ISO.  :Wink: 

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## Utoxin

Well, until I get my hands on a 700 meg CD, that'll have to wait. My CD burner won't overburn well, and all I have are 650's. So I'm burning the gentoo ISO, and I'll do my work through it.

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## AutoBot

Sorry forgot to let you know about that, but still worth keeping around till you get a 700M cd.

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## Utoxin

Well, I finally got the time and the extra hard drive to do this, and XFS is now gone from my system. Running Reiser now, since I'm a speed fiend.

Nice to have a (hopefully) stable system again.

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## KiTaSuMbA

I have an 2.4.18 XFS kernel and the only crashes I got was due to the NVidia driver with my athlon XP (i.e. I can leave the box on in console mode for ages but with the nv modules loaded it crashes una tantum). BTW, I got the same "patterns" on my slack too so I don't overly worry... at least with XFS on gentoo I don't get all that "fsck -y -v " terror when shit happens.

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## AutoBot

 *KiTaSuMbA wrote:*   

> I have an 2.4.18 XFS kernel and the only crashes I got was due to the NVidia driver with my athlon XP (i.e. I can leave the box on in console mode for ages but with the nv modules loaded it crashes una tantum). BTW, I got the same "patterns" on my slack too so I don't overly worry... at least with XFS on gentoo I don't get all that "fsck -y -v " terror when shit happens.

 

Do you not get all those "foo-application exited with a preempt count of"?

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## Swishy

 *Utoxin wrote:*   

> Well, I finally got the time and the extra hard drive to do this, and XFS is now gone from my system. Running Reiser now, since I'm a speed fiend.
> 
> Nice to have a (hopefully) stable system again.

 

how much of a speed increase does Rieser give over ext3 ...?????

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## Utoxin

Don't know. I've never run it, and I rarely bother with benchmarks. All I know is, everyone says it's faster.

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## delta407

I don't have benchmarks either, but ReiserFS is faster than ext3.

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## mdpye

So are you guys telling me that when my geforce arrives (should be in a matter of minutes now, before 5pm  :Smile:  ), and I merge the nvidia drivers it will be completely bloody useless with my preemptable kernel?

Oh shit.

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## delta407

It should still work okay...

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## Utoxin

 *AutoBot wrote:*   

> But if you have a cdburner, broadband, and a little time I would suggest using the knoppix live cd as you can't get much better than a rescue disk that can run kde or gnome 
> 
> http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

 

Just booted with Knoppix. That is truly amazing. It found and initialized /all/ my hardware without a single glitch, including the sound and video cards.

I'm keeping it around to use as my recovery CD.   :Very Happy: 

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## ZagiFlyer

I guess I'm confused  :Confused:  . . .

I am running the current Gentoo-sources, and it already has xfs (I know it does because I'm using it) and preemt (again, I'm using it). What advantage(s) would one be looking for by hand-rolling the patches into vanilla-sources rather than just using the Gentoo-sources?

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## Utoxin

I was hoping to try and get them to work /nicely/ together. Unfortunately, that seems impossible at this time. XFS and Preempt are mutually exclusive, if you are concerned with stability. I'd recommend reiser as a substitute for XFS.

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## AutoBot

Told you knoppix was nice  :Very Happy: , also I currently use ReiserFS as my filesytem and have no problems with preempt.

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## delta407

 *Utoxin wrote:*   

> I'd recommend reiser as a substitute for XFS.

 

People are concerned with ReiserFS corruption -- XFS has corrupted on me one time after a week, ReiserFS has corrupted on me zero times after ten months (combined over three machines). I've found ReiserFS to be faster, too. I'm also using it with the preempt patch right now, with no issues.

Seriously, if you're doing a new Gentoo install, try out ReiserFS.

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## Swishy

Look like I may have to have a go with Reiser then .......  :Very Happy: 

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## AutoBot

 *delta407 wrote:*   

>  *Utoxin wrote:*   I'd recommend reiser as a substitute for XFS. 
> 
> People are concerned with ReiserFS corruption -- XFS has corrupted on me one time after a week, ReiserFS has corrupted on me zero times after ten months (combined over three machines). I've found ReiserFS to be faster, too. I'm also using it with the preempt patch right now, with no issues.
> 
> Seriously, if you're doing a new Gentoo install, try out ReiserFS.

 

Do you not find ReiserFS slows once the disk is near full (1 Gig or less), seems I need to do some more testing to gather conclusive evidence on that one.

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## Utoxin

 *AutoBot wrote:*   

>  *delta407 wrote:*    *Utoxin wrote:*   I'd recommend reiser as a substitute for XFS. 
> 
> People are concerned with ReiserFS corruption -- XFS has corrupted on me one time after a week, ReiserFS has corrupted on me zero times after ten months (combined over three machines). I've found ReiserFS to be faster, too. I'm also using it with the preempt patch right now, with no issues.
> 
> Seriously, if you're doing a new Gentoo install, try out ReiserFS. 
> ...

 

That's possible. It uses a hash to index the files, and with large numbers of files, it starts getting hash collisions, which would slow things down a bit.

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## mdpye

 *delta407 wrote:*   

> It should still work okay...

 

And it does. Thanks.

PHEW!

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## KiTaSuMbA

 *AutoBot wrote:*   

> 
> 
> Do you not get all those "foo-application exited with a preempt count of"?

 

As I said, I got the "official" gentoo XFS 2.4.18 sources (how did I miss the preempt option in there?). So, I was actually adding my 2 cents on the "it's not XFSes fault, they just don't stick together" kind of thing. 

I am sorry I only saw your answer now... but don't you get a feeling the forums are a bit chaotic? Perhaps we need a threaded replies tree so we can check faster when someone responds specifically to us instead of the entire thread. Or at least, an additional "quoted by" search pattern.   :Wink: 

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## AutoBot

 *KiTaSuMbA wrote:*   

>  *AutoBot wrote:*   
> 
> Do you not get all those "foo-application exited with a preempt count of"? 
> 
> As I said, I got the "official" gentoo XFS 2.4.18 sources (how did I miss the preempt option in there?). So, I was actually adding my 2 cents on the "it's not XFSes fault, they just don't stick together" kind of thing. 
> ...

 

I looked at my question and have no idea what I was thinking at the time  :Confused: 

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## mdpye

 *AutoBot wrote:*   

> 
> 
> I am sorry I only saw your answer now... but don't you get a feeling the forums are a bit chaotic? Perhaps we need a threaded replies tree so we can check faster when someone responds specifically to us instead of the entire thread. Or at least, an additional "quoted by" search pattern.  

 

I really don't like these unthreaded discussion boards, but finding a good threaded one is so difficult I ended up rolling my own with PHP/mySQL. Damn nice it is too, but it isn't complete enough to offer as an option here.  :Sad: 

MP

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