Duplicates

[slvadcjelli42]

Yet another question    

I recently upgraded the kernel of my Redhat Linux system to 2.4.20-19.8. I use grub, and when I restarted my computer after upgrading I noticed that it had TWO listings instead of the usual one-- you guessed it, one for the old kernel and one for the new one. I can choose either one and it boots fine, and when i type something like "uname -a" it tells me that the kernel is whatever I chose at startup. Does this mean I have TWO kernels (  :confused:  ) and if so, how can I safely delete the old one?

I noticed I can create a "shortcut-like-item" (I still have to think of some of these things in windows terms   :rolleyes:  ) in two ways, by right-clicking on the (KDE) desktop and selecting "Create New > Link to Application..." OR by finding the program in Konqueror and dragging it to the desktop, where I am asked whether I want to "Copy Here" "Link Here" or "Move Here."

The "right click on desktop" method makes a link that is 962 KB and is called an Executable.It has  slanted text and a small "shortcut" arrow in the corner. The other method creates a "desktop config file" which is 245B (!), has ordinary text and no arrow. They both seem to do the same thing. What is the difference, and is there any reason to use one over the other?

[sime]

Hi Dirk,

Hows it going?

Ok I'll deal with the kernel thing.

Get a shell up and su to root now cd to /boot and do an ls -la and you will see your kernels.

Notice that there are a number of related things  
namely ... vmlinuz-blah-blah, System.map-blah-blah, module-info-blah.blah, kernel.h-blah.blah.

Look closely and you will notice that the currently utilized kernel (the one that will boot by default if you just leave it) is pointed to by a bunch of symbolic links. You should also have a dir called grub.

cd into tthe grub dir and have a quick nose about and familarize yourself with the files. File systems (fat, fast file system, etc) and a sym link that points to a file called grub.conf.

Copy grub.conf to grub.conf.dirk (always do that when playing as root it will save you looking like a complete pratt when you make a mistake    and means you can get back to where you were if necessary) pico or vi grub.conf and have a look at the entries. You guessed it, it's what appears on the load screen when you boot!

Now you can trash the unwanted entries in the grub.conf file and leave the actual files alone in the /boot directory above. Or you can trash the entries in grub.conf and the related files in the /boot directory.

The question is do you reallllllllly need to trash them @ all. The idea is you leave them and if you discover you have a problem with the new kernel at some point you can get back to a KNOWN WORKING VERSION with a simple reboot.

If you decide you realy want to delete the old files then get the hang of it FIRST - comment out the entries in grub.conf and rename the files in /boot to filename.old then reboot and get the system up. If all is well go ahead and delete the files and remove the commented out lines from the grub.conf file.  

THE MAIN THING WHEN DOING THIS SORT OF STUFF IS TO HAVE A PLAN! MAKE SURE YOU CAN GET BACK TO WHERE YOU WERE BEFORE YOU STARTED! THEN IF YOU MAKE A MESS YOU DON'T HAVE TO RE INSTALL.

(Remember a re install is a $MS solution not a Linux solution   )

Hope this helps.

Have fun

Later

Sime

[flap]

quote:The "right click on desktop" method makes a link that is 962 KB and is called an Executable.It has slanted text and a small "shortcut" arrow in the corner. The other method creates a "desktop config file" which is 245B (!), has ordinary text and no arrow. They both seem to do the same thing. What is the difference, and is there any reason to use one over the other?

The first method doesn't actually create another 962KB file (962KB will be the size of the executable you're linking to), but rather just a symbolic link to the original file. When you execute this link it's as if you're executing the original.

The other method creates a text file of settings that KDE understands and can use to run the program with KDE specific options.

[slvadcjelli42]

Ok, thanks for clearing both of those up