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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> |
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<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/gentoo-kernel.xml,v 1.20 2004/11/14 10:17:52 swift Exp $ --> |
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|
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<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd"> |
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<guide link="/doc/en/gentoo-kernel.xml"> |
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<title>Gentoo Linux Kernel Guide</title> |
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<author title="Author"> |
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<mail link="swift@gentoo.org">Sven Vermeulen</mail> |
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</author> |
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<author title="Contributor"> |
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<mail link="lostlogic@gentoo.org">Brandon Low</mail> |
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</author> |
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<author title="Editor"> |
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<mail link="dsd@gentoo.org">Daniel Drake</mail> |
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</author> |
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<author title="Editor"> |
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<mail link="carl@gentoo.org">Carl Anderson</mail> |
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</author> |
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<author title="Editor"> |
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<mail link="peesh@gentoo.org">Jorge Paulo</mail> |
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</author> |
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<author title="Editor"> |
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<mail link="bennyc@gentoo.org">Benny Chuang</mail> |
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</author> |
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<author title="Editor"> |
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<mail link="g.guidi@sns.it">Gregorio Guidi</mail> |
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</author> |
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|
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<abstract> |
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This document gives you an overview on all kernel sources that Gentoo |
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provides through Portage. |
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</abstract> |
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|
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<license/> |
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|
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<version>0.7.7</version> |
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<date>November 14, 2004</date> |
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|
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<chapter> |
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<title>Introduction</title> |
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<section> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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As with everything else in Gentoo Linux, the philosophy of the Gentoo |
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Kernel team is to give you, the user, as much freedom of choice as |
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possible. If you take a look at the output of <c>emerge -s sources</c> |
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you see a large variety of kernels to choose from. In this document, |
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I will attempt to give you a brief rundown of the goals of each of the |
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patch sets, which we at Gentoo design, and also explain the other kernel |
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sources we make available to you. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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</chapter> |
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|
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<chapter> |
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<title>Supported kernel packages</title> |
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<section> |
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<title>genkernel</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>Genkernel</c> is a kernel toolset that can be used to autodetect your |
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hardware and configure your kernel automatically. This is usually recommended |
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for users who do not feel comfortable about compiling a kernel manually. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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For more information, please read the <uri link="/doc/en/genkernel.xml">Gentoo |
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Linux Genkernel Guide</uri>. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>General purpose: gentoo-sources and gentoo-dev-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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For most users, the recommended kernel sources are the |
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<c>gentoo-sources</c>. The <c>gentoo-sources</c> package contains various |
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kernel patches, designed to improve user experience with respect to different |
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areas. Speaking of <e>security</e>: you can find support for |
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<uri link="http://www.grsecurity.net">grsecurity</uri>, together with other |
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security enhancements and, naturally, all the recent fixes for known |
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vulnerabilities. The included patches deal also with <e>performance</e> |
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(including tweaks for desktop usage and support for recent hardware) and |
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<e>features</e> (supermount, bootsplash, the latest NTFS drivers, and more). |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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For users looking to take advantage of the new features, stability, and |
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performance of Linux 2.6, we provide <c>gentoo-dev-sources</c>. This package |
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consists of a minimal patchset providing fixes and enhancement for stability |
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and security. This kernel will become our recommended default at some point |
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in the near future. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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The <c>gentoo-sources</c> (together with <c>gentoo-dev-sources</c>) absorb |
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most of the resources of the Gentoo kernel team. They are brought to you by a |
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group of talented developers, which can count on the expertise of popular |
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kernel hacker Greg Kroah-Hartman, maintainer of udev and responsible for the |
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USB and PCI subsystems of the official Linux kernel. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>Plain kernels: vanilla-sources and development-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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The next kernel sources that many of you will probably be familiar with |
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as Linux users are the <c>vanilla-sources</c>. These are the official 2.4 |
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kernel sources released on <uri>http://www.kernel.org/</uri>, maintained |
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(contrary to popular belief) not by Linus Torvalds himself, but by Marcelo |
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Tosatti. Linus is the leader of active kernel development, but as he is |
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only one man, he passes off the maintenance of the stable kernel branch |
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to someone he can trust to handle it once it has stabilized. Thus, Alan |
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Cox became the maintainer of the Linux-2.2 kernel series and Marcelo |
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Tosatti became the maintainer of the Linux-2.4 kernel series. This last kernel |
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is what all the patch sets in the 2.4 series are based on. Marcelo has |
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been doing an outstanding job with its maintenance and it can be |
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counted on for stability and up-to-date (if not bleeding edge) hardware |
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support. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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The <c>development-sources</c> ebuild provides the stable 2.6 Linux kernel. As |
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opposed to what the name might suggest, this kernel source is completely stable |
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and production-ready. This is the official 2.6 kernel released on |
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<uri>http://www.kernel.org/</uri>. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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|
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<section> |
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<title>For servers: hardened-sources and hardened-dev-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>hardened-sources</c> is based on Linux 2.4 and is targetted at our users |
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running Gentoo on server systems. It provides patches for the various |
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subprojects of Gentoo Hardened (such as support for LSM/SELinux and |
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GRSecurity), together with stability/security-enhancements. Check |
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<uri>http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/hardened/</uri> for more information. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>hardened-dev-sources</c> serves the same purpose as <c>hardened-sources</c> |
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but is based on the newer Linux 2.6 kernel base. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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The following USE-flags can be set to select optional patches: |
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</p> |
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|
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<table> |
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<tr><th>Flags</th><th>Description</th></tr> |
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<tr><ti>selinux</ti><ti>Substitute grSecurity with SELinux support</ti></tr> |
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</table> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>Architecture dependent kernels</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>alpha-sources</c>, <c>hppa-sources</c>, <c>hppa-dev-sources</c>, |
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<c>mips-sources</c>, <c>pegasos-dev-sources</c>, <c>sparc-sources</c> |
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and <c>xbox-sources</c> are, as their names suggest, |
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patched to run best on specific architectures. They also contain some of |
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the patches for hardware and features support from the other patch sets |
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mentioned above and below. A "-dev-" in the name of a kernel package means that |
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the sources use the 2.6 kernel instead of the 2.4 kernel. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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</chapter> |
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|
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<chapter> |
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<title>Unsupported kernel packages</title> |
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<section> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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Now I'm going to try to briefly describe some of the other |
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<path>sys-kernel/*-sources</path> which you saw scroll by when you ran |
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<c>emerge -s sources</c>. Lets take them in alphabetical order. These |
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kernels are provided as a courtesy only and the various patch sets are not |
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supported by the Gentoo team. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>ck-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>ck-sources</c> is Con Kolivas's kernel patch set. This kernel is |
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<e>HIGHLY</e> tuned for desktop performance at the expense of |
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throughput and some of the scheduler's ability to prioritize |
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applications. Con Kolivas benchmarks kernels to find the best |
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combination of features for desktop use. See |
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<uri>http://kernel.kolivas.org</uri> for more information on Con and his |
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patches. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>grsec-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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The <c>grsec-sources</c> kernel source is patched with the latest GRSecurity |
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updates (GRSecurity version 2.0 and up) which includes, amongst other |
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security-related patches, support for PaX. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>mm-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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The <c>mm-sources</c> are based on the <c>development-sources</c> and contain |
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Andrew Morton's patch set. They include the experimental and bleeding-edge |
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features that are going to be included in the official kernel (or that are |
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going to be rejected because they set your box on fire). They are known to be |
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always moving at a fast pace and can change radically from one week to the |
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other; kernel hackers use them as a testing ground for new stuff. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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If you really want to live on the edge and you think |
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<c>development-sources</c> are for wussies, then try out |
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<c>mm-sources</c>. Be warned that this kernel is highly experimental and |
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doesn't always work as expected. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>openmosix-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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The <c>openmosix-sources</c> are patched to support the openMosix system |
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(like MOSIX but Open Source). For more information see |
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<uri>http://www.openmosix.org</uri>. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>pac-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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The <c>pac-sources</c> kernel tree is patched with Bernhard Rosenkraenzer's |
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(bero) patches. Be warned that this kernel is quite out of date and may be |
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removed from Portage soon. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>selinux-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>selinux-sources</c> from <uri>http://www.nsa.gov/selinux</uri> are |
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patches for the security conscious to support the LSM (Linux Security |
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Modules) and the Flask Security Architecture. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>usermode-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>usermode-sources</c> are the User Mode Linux kernel patches. This |
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kernel is designed to allow Linux to run within Linux to run within Linux |
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to ... User Mode Linux is intended for testing and virtual server support. |
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For more information about this amazing tribute to the stability and |
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scalability of Linux, see <uri>http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net</uri>. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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For more information on UML and Gentoo, read the |
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<uri link="/doc/en/uml.xml">Gentoo UML Guide</uri>. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>win4lin-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>win4lin-sources</c> are patched to support the userland win4lin tools |
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that allow Linux users to run many Microsoft Windows (TM) applications |
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at almost native speeds. See <uri>http://www.netraverse.com/</uri> for more |
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information. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>wolk-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>wolk-sources</c> contains the <e>Working Overloaded Linux Kernel</e> from |
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<uri>http://sourceforge.net/projects/wolk</uri>. This kernel contains |
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many patches of a wide variety, all combined into the kernel with |
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extreme care. This allows you to configure nearly every one into and out |
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of the kernel at compile time -- so the kernel will work with nearly any |
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combination of the patches. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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If you need a certain combination of patches that you cannot find in other |
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kernel sources, WOLK is definitely worth a shot. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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</chapter> |
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|
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<chapter> |
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<title>Previously provided kernel packages</title> |
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<section> |
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<title>aa-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>aa-sources</c> was a heavily modified kernel with all kinds of patches. |
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The upstream maintainer has stopped releasing kernel patchsets, this package |
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was removed as it went out of date. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>alpha-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>alpha-sources</c> was a 2.4 kernel with patches applied to improve hardware |
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compatibility for the Alpha architecture. These patches have been developed |
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and included in the mainline kernel. Alpha users can now run any recent kernel |
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with no need for extra patches. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>gaming-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>gaming-sources</c> was a 2.4 kernel with a broken scheduler patch applied |
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which enhanced performance in games. It was removed from Portage because some |
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problems accumulated, and the scheduler work being done in Linux 2.6 at the |
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same time offered the same or even better performance. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>gs-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>gs-sources</c>, once advertised as our server-style patch set, became a |
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testing ground for prerelease 2.4 kernels. Unfortunately, the maintainer |
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became inactive and this kernel detoriated with new system updates and |
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became out of date. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>ia64-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
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<c>ia64-sources</c> was a 2.4 kernel with some fixes applied to provide |
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improved hardware compatibility for the IA-64 architecture. These fixes are |
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now included in the mainline 2.6 kernel tree, so this package was no longer |
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useful. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>pac-sources</title> |
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<body> |
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|
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<p> |
| 413 |
<c>pac-sources</c>, a kernel designed to enhance multimedia performance, has |
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been superseded by development work in the 2.6 development branch. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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<section> |
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<title>planet-ccrma-sources</title> |
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<body> |
| 422 |
|
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<p> |
| 424 |
<c>planet-ccrma-sources</c>, a kernel designed to enhance audio performance, |
| 425 |
has been superseded by development work in the 2.6 development branch. |
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</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
| 430 |
<section> |
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<title>selinux-sources</title> |
| 432 |
<body> |
| 433 |
|
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<p> |
| 435 |
<c>selinux-sources</c>, a 2.4 kernel including lots of security enhancements, |
| 436 |
has been obseleted by security development in the 2.6 tree. |
| 437 |
</p> |
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|
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</body> |
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</section> |
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</chapter> |
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|
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</guide> |
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