395. Compiling the ck-kernel 3.8.x on debian (and patching i915)

What is the ck kernel? In short it is a patch for the mainline kernel which is supposed to render it more responsive for desktop use. See here: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Linux-ck

I'm not going to try to 'benchmark' this against the stock kernel, since I'm not clear what a good metric would be -- how do you measure 'responsiveness'? Come to think of it -- what's a good, objective definition?

Download the kernel version that you need from http://kernel.org and the ck path from Con's web page at http://users.on.net/~ckolivas/kernel/

I also ended up applying this patch to sort out recent i915 issues:
http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/368-slow-mouse-and-keyboard-triggered.html
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1248190
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-7278760.html
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1254285#p1254285

I did it by creating a file called i915.patch and placing it in the kernel source root:

--- drivers/gpu/drm/drm_crtc_helper.c   2013-04-26 10:24:07.987942008 +1000
+++ ../../linux-3.8.8/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_crtc_helper.c 2013-04-17 15:11:28.000000000 +1000
@@ -1067,7 +1067,7 @@ void drm_helper_hpd_irq_event(struct drm
        enum drm_connector_status old_status;
        bool changed = false;
 
-       if (!dev->mode_config.poll_enabled || !drm_kms_helper_poll)
+       if (!dev->mode_config.poll_enabled)
                return;
 
        mutex_lock(&dev->mode_config.mutex);

Note that as far as I know it doesn't solve the issue, but it does allow you to disable polling by editing /etc/default/grub and adding

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet drm_kms_helper.poll=N"

followed by running

sudo update-grub

So far it's working fine (after testing for ca one hour).

Anyway, here's kernel 3.8.5 (should work on all 3.8.x):

sudo apt-get install kernel-package fakeroot build-essential ncurses-dev
mkdir ~/tmp
cd ~/tmp
wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/linux-3.8.5.tar.xz
tar xvf linux-3.8.5.tar.xz
cd linux-3.8.5/
wget http://ck.kolivas.org/patches/3.0/3.8/3.8-ck1/patch-3.8-ck1.bz2
bunzip2 patch-3.8-ck1.bz2
patch -p1 < patch-3.8-ck1

patching file arch/powerpc/platforms/cell/spufs/sched.c
patching file Documentation/scheduler/sched-BFS.txt
patching file Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
patching file fs/proc/base.c
patching file include/linux/init_task.h
patching file include/linux/ioprio.h
patching file include/linux/sched.h
patching file init/Kconfig
patching file init/main.c
patching file kernel/delayacct.c
patching file kernel/exit.c
patching file kernel/posix-cpu-timers.c
patching file kernel/sysctl.c
patching file lib/Kconfig.debug
patching file include/linux/jiffies.h
patching file drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq.c
patching file drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq_ondemand.c
patching file drivers/cpufreq/cpufreq_conservative.c
patching file kernel/sched/bfs.c
patching file kernel/sched/Makefile
patching file include/uapi/linux/sched.h
patching file include/linux/swap.h
patching file mm/memory.c
patching file mm/swapfile.c
patching file mm/vmscan.c
patching file arch/x86/Kconfig
patching file kernel/Kconfig.hz
patching file kernel/Kconfig.preempt
patching file Makefile

patch -p0 -R < i915.patch

patching file drivers/gpu/drm/drm_crtc_helper.c
make-kpgk clean
cat /boot/config-`uname -r`>.config
make oldconfig
time fakeroot make-kpkg -j4 --initrd kernel_image kernel_headers
sudo dpkg -i ../linux*3.8.5-ck*.deb

where 4 is the number of cores on your machine (note: it only has to do with compiling -- you can use the compiled binaries on any number of cores).

That's it. Now all you have to do is reboot and you'll be using your new kernel. Simple, eh?

344. Compile a kernel (3.8) without using kpkg

Note: There is a much better and easier way: http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/342-compiling-kernel-38-on-debian.html . What follows is just done for the sake of exploration.

Post begins:
It is incredibly easy to compile your own kernel on Debian using kernel-package. See e.g. http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/342-compiling-kernel-38-on-debian.html

In the interest of learning how to compile a kernel in a more generic way which is applicable to non-debian systems (arch, red hat etc.), here's a method which doesn't rely on kpkg (kernel-package).

The downside is that this method does not produce a set of .deb files, and that you can't uninstall it using apt.

I'll be brief since most things are covered e.g. here.  I looked at this post when writing this.

sudo apt-get install build-essential ncurses-bin
mkdir ~/tmp
cd ~/tmp
wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.8.tar.bz2
tar xvf linux-3.8.tar.bz2
cd linux-3.8/
cat /boot/config-`uname -r`>.config
make oldconfig

Once you're done answering the questions, do

time make -j3

This takes 29 minutes (AMD Athlon II X3).

time make -j3 modules

This takes 4 minutes. Finish by running

sudo make modules_install
sudo make headers_install INSTALL_HDR_PATH=/usr/src/linux-3.8.0
sudo make install

Note that the default path for the headers is /usr/include, which doesn't play well with most programs that check for the presence of headers before installation, so use INSTALL_HDR_PATH to specify the destination (at least on debian).

make install takes care of initramfs and grub-update as well and generates

/boot/config-3.8.0
/boot/initrd.img-3.8.0
/boot/System.map-3.8.0
/boot/vmlinuz-3.8.0

And that's really it -- compiling a kernel even without kernel-packages is pretty easy. Reboot and everything should be in working order.

342. Compiling Kernel 3.8 on Debian Testing/Wheezy

NOTE: It seems like series 3.8 has issues with intel (i915) graphics -- it occasionally generates kworker threads that causes unresponsiveness as seen by slow mouse and keyboard response when e.g. plugging or unplugging mains power. No issues on e.g. nvidia though.
http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/368-slow-mouse-and-keyboard-triggered.html
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-7278760.html
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1248190

Post:

Kernel 3.8 is out now. Not much to say -- the compilation works well using the standard method. The compressed kernel is about 81 Mb to download.

The approach below shows how to compile the kernel on Debian. If you're interested in a more generic approach, see this post: http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/344-compile-kernel-38-without-using-kpkg.html

NOTE: kernel 3.8 -- in contrast to the 3.7 series -- now compiles fine on AMD FX 8150.

NOTE: kernel 3.8 plays well with nvidia dkms

Here we go:

sudo apt-get install kernel-package fakeroot build-essential ncurses-dev
mkdir ~/tmp
cd ~/tmp
wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.8.tar.bz2
tar xvf linux-3.8.tar.bz2
cd linux-3.8/
cat /boot/config-`uname -r`>.config
make oldconfig

You will be asked a lot of questions -- how many depends on what version you upgrade from. If in doubt, pick the default answer (i.e. hit enter). If really in doubt, use google.

Then continue:

make-kpkg clean

Do

make menuconfig

if you want to make any specific changes to the kernel (e.g. add support for certain devices)

Then continue:

time fakeroot make-kpkg -j4 --initrd kernel_image kernel_headers

As usual 4 is the number of threads you wish to launch -- make it equal to the number of cores that you have for optimum performance during compilation (more about that here).

The build takes around 20 minutes on a four-core intel i5-2400 with -j4, and 14 minutes on an fx-8150 with -j8 (96 minutes with -j1).

Install:

sudo dpkg -i ../linux-image-3.8.0_3.8.0-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb ../linux-headers-3.8.0_3.8.0-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb

---

New stuff/Questions:

Offload RCU callback processing from boot-selected CPUs (RCU_NOCB_CPU) [N/y/?] (NEW) *
Memory placement aware NUMA scheduler (NUMA_BALANCING) [N/y/?] (NEW) *
Enable to assign a node which has only movable memory (MOVABLE_NODE) [N/y/?] (NEW)
Allow for memory hot-add (MEMORY_HOTPLUG) [Y/n] y
Allow for balloon memory compaction/migration (BALLOON_COMPACTION) [Y/n/?] (NEW)
Set default setting of cpu0_hotpluggable (BOOTPARAM_HOTPLUG_CPU0) [N/y/?] (NEW
Debug CPU0 hotplug (DEBUG_HOTPLUG_CPU0) [N/y/?] (NEW)
ACPI tables can be passed via uncompressed cpio in initrd (ACPI_INITRD_TABLE_OVERRIDE) [N/y/?] (NEW)
Support multiple cpuidle drivers (CPU_IDLE_MULTIPLE_DRIVERS) [N/y/?] (NEW)
"NOTRACK" target support (DEPRECATED) (NETFILTER_XT_TARGET_NOTRACK) [N/m] (NEW

Default SCTP cookie HMAC encoding
  > 1. Enable optional MD5 hmac cookie generation (SCTP_DEFAULT_COOKIE_HMAC_MD5) (NEW)
    2. Enable optional SHA1 hmac cookie generation (SCTP_DEFAULT_COOKIE_HMAC_SHA1) (NEW)
    3. Use no hmac alg in SCTP cookie generation (SCTP_DEFAULT_COOKIE_HMAC_NONE) (NEW)
  choice[1-3?]:   Enable optional MD5 hmac cookie generation (SCTP_COOKIE_HMAC_MD5) [Y/?] (NEW) y

Enable optional SHA1 hmac cookie generation (SCTP_COOKIE_HMAC_SHA1) [N/y/?] (NEW) *
Enable optional MD5 hmac cookie generation (SCTP_COOKIE_HMAC_MD5) [Y/?] (NEW) y
Distributed ARP Table (BATMAN_ADV_DAT) [N/y/?] (NEW)
Kvaser CAN/USB interface (CAN_KVASER_USB) [N/m/?] (NEW)
LSI MPT Fusion SAS 3.0 Device Driver (SCSI_MPT3SAS) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Chelsio Communications FCoE support (SCSI_CHELSIO_FCOE) [N/m/?] (NEW) *
Marvell 88E6060 ethernet switch chip support (NET_DSA_MV88E6060) [N/m/y/?] (NEW)
Marvell 88E6085/6095/6095F/6131 ethernet switch chip support (NET_DSA_MV88E6131) [N/m/y/?] (NEW)
Marvell 88E6123/6161/6165 ethernet switch chip support (NET_DSA_MV88E6123_61_65) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) *
Cadence devices (NET_CADENCE) [Y/n/?] (NEW)
AT91RM9200 Ethernet support (ARM_AT91_ETHER) [N/m/y/?] (NEW)
Cadence MACB/GEM support (MACB) [N/m/y/?] (NEW)
Broadcom devices (NET_VENDOR_BROADCOM) [Y/?] y
Marvell MDIO interface support (MVMDIO) [N/m/y/?] (NEW)
CDC MBIM support (USB_NET_CDC_MBIM) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Atheros Wireless Cards (ATH_CARDS) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Atheros AR5523 wireless driver support (AR5523) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Wilocity 60g WiFi card wil6210 support (WIL6210) [N/m/?] (NEW) *
Realtek RTL8723AE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter (RTL8723AE) [N/m/?] (NEW)
ARC UART driver support (SERIAL_ARC) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) *
CBUS I2C driver (I2C_CBUS_GPIO) [N/m/?] (NEW)
TS-5500 DIO blocks and compatibles (GPIO_TS5500) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
TI BQ2415x battery charger driver (CHARGER_BQ2415X) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Board level reset or power off (POWER_RESET) [N/y/?] (NEW) *

 Default Thermal governor
  > 1. step_wise (THERMAL_DEFAULT_GOV_STEP_WISE) (NEW)
    2. fair_share (THERMAL_DEFAULT_GOV_FAIR_SHARE) (NEW)
    3. user_space (THERMAL_DEFAULT_GOV_USER_SPACE) (NEW)
  choice[1-3?]:   Fair-share thermal governor (FAIR_SHARE) [N/y/?] (NEW)

Step_wise thermal governor (STEP_WISE) [Y/?] (NEW) y
User_space thermal governor (USER_SPACE) [N/y/?] (NEW)
SSB GPIO driver (SSB_DRIVER_GPIO) [N/y/?] (NEW) *
BCMA GPIO driver (BCMA_DRIVER_GPIO) [N/y/?] (NEW)
Support for Realtek PCI-E card reader (MFD_RTSX_PCI) [N/m/y/?] (NEW)
TI ADC / Touch Screen chip support (MFD_TI_AM335X_TSCADC) [N/m/y/?] (NEW)
Support for Nano River Technologies Viperboard (MFD_VIPERBOARD) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Support for Retu multi-function device (MFD_RETU) [N/m/?] (NEW) *
Maxim MAX8973 voltage regulator  (REGULATOR_MAX8973) [N/m/?] (NEW)
TI TPS51632 Power Regulator (REGULATOR_TPS51632) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Siano SMS1xxx based MDTV receiver (SMS_USB_DRV) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Siano SMS1xxx based MDTV via SDIO interface (SMS_SDIO_DRV) [N/m/?] (NEW)   *
Stanton Control System 1 MIDI (SND_SCS1X) [N/m/?] (NEW) *
ION iCade arcade controller (HID_ICADE) [N/m/?] (NEW)
HID over I2C transport layer (I2C_HID) [N/m/?] (NEW) *
Renesas R-Car USB phy support (USB_RCAR_PHY) [N/m/?] (NEW)   *
SDHCI support for ACPI enumerated SDHCI controllers (MMC_SDHCI_ACPI) [N/m/?] (NEW)
NXP PCF8523 (RTC_DRV_PCF8523) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Philips PCF8563/Epson RTC8564 (RTC_DRV_PCF8563) [M/n/?] m
Userspace platform driver with generic irq and dynamic memory (UIO_DMEM_GENIRQ) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Microsoft Hyper-V Balloon driver (HYPERV_BALLOON) [N/m/?] (NEW) *
SystemBase PCI Multiport UART (SB105X) [N/m/y/?] (NEW)
TTY over Firewire (FIREWIRE_SERIAL) [N/m/?] (NEW) *
F2FS filesystem support (EXPERIMENTAL) (F2FS_FS) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) *
Enable CIFS debugging routines (CIFS_DEBUG) [Y/n/?] (NEW)
Simplified Mandatory Access Control Kernel Support (SECURITY_SMACK) [N/y/?] (NEW)
Camellia cipher algorithm (x86_64/AES-NI/AVX) (CRYPTO_CAMELLIA_AESNI_AVX_X86_64) [N/m/y/?] (NEW)

---

Links to this post:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/lenovo/575569-linux-x220-41.html
http://www.reddit.com/r/CrunchBang/comments/196zx5/whats_the_best_way_to_install_a_new_kernel_in/
http://www.lubuntu.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1125
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=143&p=711457
https://www.linux.org.ru/forum/linux-install/9128362
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/16573913/compile-new-kernel-on-debian-wheezy
http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=26825
http://mygoodluck.org/debian-obnovil-yadro-do-38