Re: [gentoo-user] Booting a Kernel-2.4 with glibc-2.9?

[Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@gmail.com>]

On Wednesday 08 July 2009 17:13:16 daid kahl wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm working on upgrading a very old Gentoo system for my work.
>
> Some software is only running well in 2.4.x kernels, and when doing other
> updates I inadvertently updated past glibc-2.3.5, and so now the 2.4 kernel
> does not boot (Fatal error, kernel too old).  Fortunately there is a 2.6
> kernel on the system so I can still boot.  I should have been operating on
> a no-nptl profile.
>
> Although I stopped the upgrade not longer after upgrading glibc, attempting
> to downgrading glibc is just about the worst thing I could do.  But I don't
> really know what other options there are, and I've been Googling for hours
> and hours and no solutions.
>
> Is there any known workaround for booting a 2.4 kernel on a system with
> glibc-2.9 installed?  I thought perhaps if there is a way to re-install
> glibc without nptl (assuming linuxthreads are still around in glibc-2.9)
> then it might work, but not sure how to do that.
>
> I'm very sad right now.

In the time it takes you to sort that mess out (including doing the necessary 
research), I reckon you could do the following:

1. Backup all user data, configs and critical files
2. Download a recent stage that suits your needs
3. Rebuild world plus add all the extra packages you use

and do the whole lot three times.

If you want a working system, this is the route of least resistance.
If you want a learning experience more than a working box, attempt to fix it. 
To downgrade glibc, search the ebuild for the word "destruction" and comment 
out the lines providing the no-downgrade safeguard. However, this is indeed a 
sure path to destruction and you will likely rebuild world several times over 
to sort it out. [Now you know where the stats in the first part of this mail 
come from :-)]


-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com