Cant move compiled kernel to /boot

[TH0M4SJ]

Hello, I am currently in the process of installing gentoo and all has went well up to thus point.
There are two issues I have just run into

First off I am compiling a generic amd64 kernel for an intel t4300 processor.
All menuconfig settings point to this but after it compiled it was placed in
arch/x86/boot
according to the gentoo manual I should be copying it from
arch/x86_64/boot

well I put in the command cp arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel
and receive the error cp: cannot create regular file /boot/kernel: read only file system

and of course if I input
arch/x86_64/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel I get file does not exist (b/c it doesn't duh)

also after any advice given please tell me from what location I should be imputing the commands from because
I was browsing through diff dirs and don't remember where it left me off at after generating the kernal.

Tia very much for any help!

[cyrillic]

[pdr]

You are running with a 32-bit system, not 64-bit. They have separate gentoo-sources-2.6.31/2-rxx ebuilds (right now stable 32-bit is 2.6.32 but stable 64-bit is 2.6.31). Make sure that:

1. You are booting from a 64-bit live CD for installation purposes.

2. You follow the x86_64 Handbook for installation (in particular for where your stage-3 is located on the mirror servers).

3. /boot being read-only: make sure you are still chroot'd into /mnt/gentoo (if not you are using the live CD's directory structure and /boot probably is read-only). Biggest danger with this is if you started the sshd daemon and ssh into the box later (you are ssh'ing into the live CD environment, not the chroot's /mnt/gentoo environment).

I can't find it right now, but I'm pretty sure that something in the stage3 file (I don't think it is just the CHOST declaration in /etc/make.conf) tells portage to use, say, the 64-bit kernel source vs the 32-bit kernel sources (and the sources - in particular the make files - are what determine the kernel will end up in /usr/src/linux/x86_64/.. instead of /usr/src/linux/i386/...).

[Hu]

[TH0M4SJ]

Thanks for all the responses..as soon as I get home I'll post my mount output
at work...my shift ends in a couple hours

also I am using the amd64 handbook printable version...since it's all one page I can't give u a link to the particular page. I printed it ou only a week ago so if it's off I'm sure it still is.

Glad to know one problem is ok hopefully I can sort out the second

[rh1]

[TH0M4SJ]

[quote="rh1"]

[Hu]

My latest 2.6.33 kernel has the arch/x86_64 directory, but if you dig down, you find that its sole contents is a symlink to the image in the arch/x86 directory. So the handbook is still technically right, though it could be a bit misleading. ThomasJ, what kernel version are you building?

Using ntfs for /boot is highly unusual. I cannot comment on whether it will work, but it is probably the reason that you ended up with a read-only mount. Is there a reason you chose to use ntfs instead of a Linux filesystem?

[Genone]

[John R. Graham]

More likely it's unintentional and /dev/sda1 is a working Windows install.

Thomas, can you share how you intended to partition the drive? I'm guessing

• Partition 1: Windows
  
• Partition 2: Gentoo Boot
  
• Partition 3: Gentoo Swap
  
• Partition 4: Gentoo Root

as this is really common. If this is correct, you can fix this really easily:

[Mike Hunt]

... besides chrooting is, according to the Handbook, required before building the kernel, and would have been impossible if the arches were somehow mixed.

But there is still a mixup somewhere, therefore 2 problems - ntfs and something else.
If you didn't explicitly create a boot partition when fdisking, then your /boot is on the / partition - therefore already mounted.
Or maybe it's what John suggests, therefore must be mounted.

Please post the output of:

• fdisk -l
  
• cat /etc/fstab

Are you using x86 or amd64, and are you following the corresponding version of the Handbook?

All of this is easy to fix.

[TH0M4SJ]

ok thanks guys. yes i am installing gentoo alongside windows 7. I have had ubuntu installed with grub all fully working a month ago, deleted those and used the windows recovery console to restore my mbr. Haven't had any issues with that, those were installed using the latest ubuntu ultimate edition 64 bit live cd.

heres my fdisk printout


/dev/sda1/ * 1 26 203776 7 hpfs/ntfs
/dev/sda2/ 26 20037 160737045 7 hpfs/ntfs
/dev/sda3/ 20037 20045 69617+ 83 linux
/dev/sda4/ 20046 22657 20980890 83 linux

1-boot
2-windows
3-swap ( i know its crazy small im not sure what happened there, i am going to go back and set a new on up)
4-gentoo install

will give suggestions offered so far in between responses, as always thanks for all the assistance

EDIT: just figured i'd add, partitions one and two were pre installed on the laptop and never altered. i added 3 and 4.
i have since shutdown the live cd and booted into windows from which i am posting now hoping i can boot the live cd back up
and just pick up where i left off.

[Mike Hunt]

Ok, your /boot is a folder on the / partition, so it's mounted on hd0,2 which is /dev/sda3

Your grub.conf needs to know that so something like should work:

[TH0M4SJ]

[Mike Hunt]

The '/' partition = the root partition which is on /dev/sda4 on your box, so my previous post was wrong.
And I'm jumping ahead. Sorry for the inconvenience.

It should read:

Since the /dev/sda1 is a /boot partition created for windows by the pre-installation, maybe it's better to just leave it alone and use the Gentoo root ('/') partition for the Gentoo /boot folder.

If your /boot is a folder on the / partition, so it's mounted on hd0,3 which is /dev/sda4

Your grub.conf needs to know that so something like this should work:

[TH0M4SJ]

[Mike Hunt]

Exactly, that's becaust the windows /boot partition is mounted and shouldn't be.
See my previous post, because I edited while you were writing.

To fix that unmount it:

[TH0M4SJ]

ok so make sure sda1 is not mounted, input the cp command and all should be well?

EDIT:

also just curious is there somewhere online that has the files listed that should be within directories by default (in my case arch/x86)
i dont see the bzImage file in there but there is 'kernel" listed.
since i was trying to cp the bzImage to be named kernel i was wondering if that is my kernel or another
file that should be there. not sure if when playing around i cp the bzImage to the same dir thus changing it to kernel.

[Mike Hunt]

Ok wait, I still don't know if you're using x86 or amd64.
If you installed using a 64 bit CD, which stage3 did you fetch?
And if it's i686-stage3, how did you manage to chroot?

The basic file layout is established by stage3 and fits in to the mounted partitioning scheme.
The /boot directory is created then, but there is nothing in it until the kernel is installed and grub is emerged.
You can name your kernel anything you want.
The important bit is using the exact same kernel name in /boot and in grub.conf.

BTW, I'm sure there must be a way to use/convert/adapt the windows /boot partition for Gentoo without causing problems, but I haven't touched a windows pc since the last millenium.
There are others here who will help with that. And that part of the installation can easily be re-done later on.

[dwbowyer]

[TH0M4SJ]

[quote="dwbowyer"]

[Genone]

Remember that you can only have four primary partitions, so if you already have sda1-4, you can't create sda5. You have to delete one of the others first and replace it with an extended/logical partition. Otherwise even if you have 100G unallocated you can't actually use it.

[dwbowyer]

Labels and partition types are two separate things.

The partition type of your /dev/sda3 was a Linux file system, NOT a swap partition.
And given it's size in sectors, I'm guessing it was maybe 64ish MB in size, about what a
/boot partition would be.

You can LABEL a partition anything, that is a helper for the administrator to know
what a partition is for in more complicated setups. (I believe is is actually possible
to mount a partition based on it's label, but I've never done it). It's moot, as you don't
mount partitions.

You did not actually create a swap partition. It would depend on the /etc/fstab file,
how that partition was used, or even IF it was used.

you might try posting that later. But, I'll show you (part) of mine, and then how yours ought to look.

[dwbowyer]

[Mike Hunt]

... you can change the partition type for the /dev/sda3 with fdisk when you re-partartition your hard drive.
In fdisk press 'p' to print the current setup on screen, and m' for <menu> to see that 't' is to set the type, and 'l' for list, type 82 is swap.
Make heavy use of the 'p' option at each step.

Also in fdisk, delete /dev/sda4 and recreate it as extended/logical, then create partitions i.e. /dev/sda5, /dev/sda6 ....

If you use only /boot, '/' (root) and swap, then your '/' (root) for a rather typical installation should be at least 20GB or more.
You may eventually wind up needing the rest of the disk, then needing a bigger drive someday, probably sooner than later.
It depends on what you wish to save to disk.

Then please make sure you are using the exact same architecture for the installCD and the stage3.
If you want a 32 bit architecture, then use the x86 installCD and the i686 stage3.
-> (Note: SysrescueCD has both x86 and amd64 installations available).

The Gentoo Handbook is your key to success. It really works.
What dwbowyer said is spot on, the actual example commands are the correct and precise ones, but the parameters need to be slightly adjusted for each system.
That's the reason why Gentoo fits like a tailored glove, rather than one-size-fits-all.

You may even choose to reinstall more than once, for example trying different filesystem types.
But once you have decided on a partition scheme and filesystem type(s), then everything else can be adjusted without reinstalling from scratch.
Just go step-by-step.
Make sure that every step if perfect before moving on to the next step, that way you'll have a very impressive operating system.

Have fun, and report back should you run into issues.
And don't worry about the steep learning curve, it gets easier.