Install new kernel on old distros (such as CentOS)

In short, choose YES for one configuration in the new kernel:
General config-->enable deprecated sysfs features which may confuse old userspace tools
(or similar, on 2.6.31.13, it is callled "remove sysfs features that may confuse old userspace tools")

Otherwise, you will get a kernel panic during boot and some errors, like "could not mount root filesystem".

ref: (Chinese version, some explantion about initrd.img.)
http://hi.baidu.com/mhlovejn/blog/item/930c96314f6311f21a4cffc6.html
http://hi.baidu.com/mhlovejn/blog/item/53740d298870c8f0e6cd4095.html
http://hi.baidu.com/mhlovejn/blog/item/7a4a55fe65de7488b801a020.html

Update : 11.4.2011

On kernel 3.0.8 (or some recent versions), this setting becomes a run time option. That means after enable it in the menuconfig, you also need to add one line in the grub, after kernel line, like:

kernel xxxx, sysfs.deprecated=1

List installed packages on CentOS

List all installed packages, enter:
# rpm -qa
# yum list installed

ref:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/rhel-centos-fedora-linux-yum-command-howto/
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-list-installed-rpm-package/

Install Chinese language on CentOS 5

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-install-language-support/

Using STREAM benchmark on CentOS 5

1. Download binary from here:
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/stream/ref.html#start
2. chomd +x stream_l
3. Download libstdc++-lib and install it:
http://rpm.pbone.net/index.php3/stat/4/idpl/8076489/com/compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-138.i386.rpm.html
4. Since stream_l is linked with a old version of the libstdc++-lib, we have to "fake" one:
ln -s libstdc++-3-libc6.2-2-2.10.0.so libstdc++-libc6.0-1.so.2
5. ./stream_l 2400 20

rpmforge for CentOS, etc

rpmforge contains many packages that does not come with default CentOS, such as ghex.

http://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResources/Repositories/RPMForge?action=show&redirect=Repositories%2FRPMForge

Install Java on CentOS

Eclipse requires the new JAVA (>1.5). And CentOS 5.3 can only provide java1.4.2. To install new Java, do following:
1) go to java.com and download the package for linux
2) install that package.
3) Modify the "PATH" environment variable to use the new Java
create (or edit) /etc/profile.d/java.sh file, example below;
export JAVA_HOME="/usr/java/jre1.5.0_11/bin"
export JAVA_PATH="$JAVA_HOME"
export PATH="$PATH:$JAVA_HOME"

4) remove the old java:
mv /usr/bin/java /usr/bin/oldjava

5) logoff and login again
Ref: http://www.smithproject.org/forum/posts/list/17.page

Install VNC on CentOS

http://www.7ota.com/blog/2008/09/install-vnc-server-on-centos/
http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/VNC-Server

Install Xen3.3 on CentOS5 and ubuntu

A more complete version is here:
http://driverentry.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!8F8079B325833D71!867.entry

Ref:

Ubuntu:
http://www.howtoforge.com/ubuntu-8.04-server-install-xen-from-ubuntu-repositories
http://bderzhavets.blogspot.com/2008/05/install-opensolaris-200805-domu-at.html
http://bderzhavets.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/backport-intrepid-xen-33-hypervisor-at-ubuntu-hardy-dom0-2624-21-xen/

CentOS 5
http://robinbowes.com/article.php/20081023014423777
http://bderzhavets.blogspot.com/2008/08/install-xen-3.html
http://book.xen.prgmr.com/mediawiki/index.php/3.3

Comiple xen 3.3 on CenOS 5
Ref: http://www.nikhef.nl/pub/projects/grid/gridwiki/index.php/Xen_on_CentOS_5_-_Notes
1. download two tar files from xen.org
2. Install mercurial src code version manager

wget http://www.selenic.com/mercurial/release/mercurial-0.9.5.tar.gz
tar xvfz mercurial-0.9.5.tar.gz
cd mercurial*
make install
export PYTHONPATH=/usr/local/lib/python2.4/site-packages:${PYTHONPATH}
(if not export that environment variable, you will get an error as this: ImportError: No module named mercurial).

3. Install prerequested packages:


yum install \
gcc make zlib-devel zlib python-devel curses libncurses-devel ncurses-devel openssl openssl-devel \
`yum search xorg-x11|grep dev|grep x86_64|awk -F . '{print $1}'` \
bridge-utils tetex tetex-latex transfig libtool-ltdl dev86 glibc-devel


( for i386 version, replace x86_64 with i386)

4. tar xzf xen*, cd xen*, make world
5. cd dist, sh ./install.sh
6. disable tls:
Put this in /etc/ld.so.conf.d/xen.conf:

# This directive teaches ldconfig to search in nosegneg subdirectories
# and cache the DSOs there with extra bit 0 set in their hwcap match
# fields. In Xen guest kernels, the vDSO tells the dynamic linker to
# search in nosegneg subdirectories and to match this extra hwcap bit
# in the ld.so.cache file.
hwcap 0 nosegneg

Note that the file name _must_ end ".conf". When you've done that, run
/sbin/ldconfig and reboot. The problem should go away.

7. reboot

Last updated: 12.8.2009