Kernel Compile Issue

[Aruna Hewapathirane]

On Thu, Jun 24, 2021 at 6:21 AM Thomas Bracht Laumann Jespersen
<t at laumann.xyz> wrote:
>
> > I am trying to compile a old kernel and it compiles fine. I used:
> > time make -j$(nproc) and this is a-ok and works.
> > make modules_install works fine. Now when I try to install the newly
> > compiled kernel I get this error below.
> >
> > Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 3.18.2-testing (x86_64)
>
> Just to be clear: This is what you get when running "sudo make install" ?

Yes,  I was getting that error when running "sudo make install". I
have manually removed
all instances of VirtualBox and any guest additions and that warning
went away. But now I have
another problem. After compilation grub menu shows the new kernel.
When I select the new
kernel it goes through all the usual steps of booting then hangs at
the graphical login screen where
I no longer have a mouse and Ctrl+Alt+F1 does not work either .

I have given below the output of: sudo time make install 2>&1 | tee
make_install.txt

==============================================================
sh ./arch/x86/boot/install.sh 3.18.2-testing arch/x86/boot/bzImage \
    System.map "/boot"
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/apt-auto-removal
3.18.2-testing /boot/vmlinuz-3.18.2-testing
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools
3.18.2-testing /boot/vmlinuz-3.18.2-testing
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.18.2-testing
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8107e-2.fw for
module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8107e-1.fw for
module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168h-2.fw for
module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168h-1.fw for
module r8169
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/zz-update-grub
3.18.2-testing /boot/vmlinuz-3.18.2-testing
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found background image: /usr/share/images/desktop-base/desktop-grub.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.18.2-testing
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.18.2-testing
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.18.2-testing.old
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.18.2-testing
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-4-amd64
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.16.0-4-amd64
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found memtest86+ multiboot image: /boot/memtest86+_multiboot.bin
Found Windows 7 (loader) on /dev/sda1
Found Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS (12.04) on /dev/sdb1
Found Debian GNU/Linux (6.0.5) on /dev/sdb3
Found Debian GNU/Linux (8.0) on /dev/sdb5
Found Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS (14.04) on /dev/sdb6
done
1.33user 0.71system 0:29.75elapsed 6%CPU (0avgtext+0avgdata 16520maxresident)k
251456inputs+74824outputs (52major+1632571minor)pagefaults 0swaps

==============================================================

Like I said I have a lot of old kernels lying around this box :-)

> > it says Consult /var/lib/dkms/open-vm-tools/9.4.6/build/make.log for
> > more information.
> > and this file shows me what is below:
> >
> > ==============================================================
> > DKMS make.log for open-vm-tools-9.4.6 for kernel 3.18.2-testing (x86_64)
> > Tue Jun 22 22:30:14 EDT 2021
> > /bin/sh: 1: test: -I./arch/x86/include: unexpected operator
> > Using standalone build system.
> > Makefile:167: Makefile.normal: No such file or directory
> > make[2]: *** No rule to make target 'Makefile.normal'.  Stop.
> > /bin/sh: 1: test: -I./arch/x86/include: unexpected operator
> > Using standalone build system.
> > Makefile:167: Makefile.normal: No such file or directory
> > make[2]: *** No rule to make target 'Makefile.normal'.  Stop.
> > ===============================================================
>
> What are the contents of this Makefile (line 167)? Looks like it's expecting a
> "Makefile.normal" that it can't find - I don't know what this file is or where
> it would come from.

The contents of the Makefile in ./arch/x86/include at line 167:

166 - # prevent gcc from generating any FP code by mistake
167 - KBUILD_CFLAGS += -mno-sse -mno-mmx -mno-sse2 -mno-3dnow
168 - KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-option,-mno-avx,)

170 - KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(mflags-y)
171 - KBUILD_AFLAGS += $(mflags-y)

> All the best,
> -- Thomas

You have pointed me in the right direction so thank you. Ten plus years
I have been dabbling with Linux and I just learnt something new. I had no idea
about this:

aruna at debian:/media/aruna/kernel-stuff/linux-3.18.2$ ls -alh
/etc/kernel/postinst.d
total 20K
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4.0K Jun 23 06:18 .
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4.0K Mar 31 00:45 ..
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2.8K Apr 13  2015 apt-auto-removal
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  858 Mar  1  2015 initramfs-tools
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  641 Dec 14  2015 zz-update-grub

Thank you Thomas I will keep trying to fix the no mouse issue now.

Aruna