Mounting reiser partitions

[Evil Jeff]

I apt-getted the reiserfs kernel patch for 2.2.17 (debian) but can't seem to mount a reiser partition. I keep getting error messages saying that reiser/reiserfs/whateverItry is not supported by the kernel. Do I have to do something before the patch works?

Evil Jeff
www.hellincorporated.com (http://www.hellincorporated.com)

[BobjoB]

you need to recompile the kernel or instmod the reiserfs module

[Evil Jeff]

How do I apply the patch? In my usr/src is a dir with the patch in it. There is the .gz file, and a folder called apply with a shell script in it called reiserfs. I've tried running it but it tells me that it's not in a top root level directory or something similar. I don't want to entirely recompile my kernel. I hate doing that. I'd prefer to just apply the patch. What is the syntax I should use to do it?

Evil Jeff
www.hellincorporated.com (http://www.hellincorporated.com)

[SlCKB0Y]

I should really write this up, expand it into a NHF because the Reiserfs one they have at the moment is pretty bad i think

ok. Firstly, you need to make sure that the "linux" symlink in /usr/src points to the actual source you are about to compile, this is very important. Down load the patch file to wherever you want, then su to get root.

cd /usr/src
patch -p0 < /path/to/patchfile here

<EDIT>
This might not work for patches with the .gz extension, but might be better suited to .patch ones. This is snipped out of the NHF on the matter

Once you download the patch you need to apply it as root. Cd to /usr/src/linux and issue the following commands.

gunzip /path/to/linux-2.2.16-reiserfs-3.5.22-patch.gz

patch -p1 -i /path/to/linux-2.2.16-reiserfs-3.5.22-patch


I think also something like the following might an alternative.

gunzip -c /path/to/pathfile | patch -p0
(but i dont know if this will work)

Then you should see a whole bunch of messages about which files were altered. After this you simply cd into the linux source directory (cd ./linux. This symlink MUST be there for patching to work).

To save myself all the time of having to go thru the complete config again, i simply get the .config file from my present linux config. For example, if you are currently using 2.2.16 and you want to upgreade to 2.2.18, and you want all kernel options the same, except for using reiserfs (and whatever new options are in the 2.2.18 kernel) then do the following.

cd /usr/src/linux

make mrproper

cp /usr/src/linux-2.2.16/.config /usr/src/linux/ (or whatever you are using now)

make oldconfig. Now i find this to be a really cool option. What it does is, it will go thru your .config file, compare all the options with all the new kernel options, and then only prompt you for things which are present in the new kernel (2.2.18). This will most likely be a couple of thing like

Do you want support for SoundBlaster live y/m/N (N)

And it will simply go through all the new options like this. Now obviously the important one to look for is reiserfs support. I would tend to say Y and not M for this. Then answer whatever other options you get thrown your way.

make dep
make clean
make bzImage
make modules
make modules_install
cp /boot/vmlinuz /boot/vmlinuz-2.2.16
cp /boot/System.map /boot/System.map-2.2.16
cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.2.18
cp /usr/src/linux/System.map /boot/System.map

Then edit /etc/lilo.conf to reflect the changes you have made to kernel location. Oh and when you do this i would leave the old kernel as a backup in case the new one doesnt work. Patching kernels and be dangerous!

Hope all this helps!

kernel patching http://www.linuxhq.com/patch-howto.html

using reiserfs with debian installation. This site is good if you like reiserfs and dont just want to play with it but use it for the whole filesystem http://www.psouth.net/~jjk/projects/reiser-debian/

That above link is really cool and i am now running reiserfs with debian on all partitions except a small /boot partition just to be safe.

Reiserfs in slackware, though this will work with any distro. (my instructions are better though) http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/distros/slack/slreiser-fs.html

[This message has been edited by SlCKB0Y (edited 15 December 2000).]

[Evil Jeff]

So I really need the source from my original kernel compilation to patch a kernel. Problem is, I think debian deletes it after it installs the kernel. So what can I do?

Evil Jeff
www.hellincorporated.com (http://www.hellincorporated.com)

[PLBlaze]

Read my reply here http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/013037.html ,follow the instructions on how to obtain kernel source and visit www.reiserfs.org (http://www.reiserfs.org) for reiserfs patch then read your post in tech support forum.Hope this helps...

[SlCKB0Y]

apt-get kernel-source-2.2.18
i think this is it.

Youll just have to do make make menuconfig or xconfig or whatever you do instead of oldconfig and then go thru it all again.

Its just this once i painstakingly went thru for hours reading all the docs, and only selected what i wanted. Ever since then i have kepy my config file for that compile.

[Evil Jeff]

Okay, I got it compiled, made everything, put the image and map in my boot directory, added the kernel to my lilo.conf, ran lilo, rebooted.

It decompresses the kernel................
Okay, booting the kernel..................

Then hangs and does nothing. What do I do? BTW, thanks for everyone's help on this!

Evil Jeff
www.hellincorporated.com (http://www.hellincorporated.com)

[PLBlaze]

Hmmm...you need to edit your fstab file and change fs type from ext2 to reiserfs but first to mount reiserfs partition you need to format your spare partiton(s) with mkreiserfs utility.

A word of warning,if you format with reiserfs make sure to backup your data first.Have you checked the instructions at www.reiserfs.org (http://www.reiserfs.org) ? Hope this helps.

[Evil Jeff]

No, the primary partition is ext2. I have a backup partition from when I was using mandrake that I made reiserfs. It should have no trouble mounting the primary hd with my current fstab.

Evil Jeff
www.hellincorporated.com (http://www.hellincorporated.com)