Summary: rebuilding a solaris 1.1.1 kernel

From: Martin Meadows (PZXKYS@atdva3.atd.gmeds.com)
Date: Tue Mar 09 1999 - 10:40:02 CST


Thanks to all who all who responded to my post yesterday! This
listserv continues to knock my socks off.

davem@fdgroup.co.uk
Anthony.Worrall@reading.ac.uk
nadya@rai.ucsd.edu
rmk@mercury2.lightbridge.com
bismark@alta.jpl.nasa.gov
misha@cibc.com
grsmith@ti.com
pete@cobra.brass.com
rali@meitca.com
kmk@crc.com
otto@alldata.com

I hope I didn't leave anyone out. A couple of the above folks
provided some really nice explanations. In the future, if
anyone wants some of the detailed stuff that was provided they
can contact me & I'll pass it along. For now, just a summary.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's the original question:

Hi. I support two Solaris 2.X sparcstations & two Solaris 1.X sparcstations.
I can not upgrade the 1.X machines to 2.X. Twice in the last 4 weeks I've
had a system hang on one of the 1.X machines due to a full process table.
A month ago I was told that I needed to reconfigure the 1.X kernel on this
machine. I do not have system admin documentation for the 1.X systems.
I've looked high & low on the internet for online documentation that would
explain how 1.X kernel reconfiguration is done. I have 2.X doc but it
seems to be useless for the older system. I have a Solaris 1.1.1 System
Installation manual that says I should see Chapter 9, "Reconfiguring the
System Kernel", of System and Network Administration. I do not have that
book. Can someone out there tell me how I can get a copy of the text I
need? Does someone know if it's online on the internet?

Thanks very much for your help!
Martin Meadows
Indianapolis, IN.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here's a pretty typical answer (that is consistent with the majority of
the responses I received) that looks like it will take care of the problem:

# cd /usr/kvm/sys/sun4c/conf (or sun4m or whatever)

find what kernel you've currently using:

# more /etc/motd
SunOS Release 4.1.4 (GENERIC) #4: Tue May 30 16:51:49 BST 1995

then copy the config file of the same name to a new one, eg

# cp GENERIC GENERIC_BIG

edit GENERIC and change the line

maxusers 8

to something like 32

- this is an overall parameter that sets lots of others (such as maxproc)

then

# config GENERIC_BIG

this creates a directory ../GENERIC_BIG with various src files and a makefile
in it, based on the contents of the GENERIC_BIG config file.

Then build the new kernel:

# cd ../GENERIC_BIG
# make

then install it

# mv /vmunix /vmunix.old
# cp vmunix /vmunix

then reboot

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

and here's a pointer to an online document!

this is also documented in /usr/kvm/sys/[ARCH]/conf/README

(also note that a couple of folks pointed me to good doc in the manpages:

man config

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks again everyone!
Martin Meadows
Indianapolis, IN.



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