Re: [gentoo-user] Re: How to run 2.6.25 kernel (no DEVTMPFS)?

[Kerin Millar <kerframil@fastmail.co.uk>]

On 14/02/2014 21:31, Grant Edwards wrote:
> On 2014-02-14, Mike Gilbert <floppym@gentoo.org> wrote:
>> On Fri, Feb 14, 2014 at 4:12 PM, Grant Edwards
>> <grant.b.edwards@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I need to do some testing with kernels as far back as 2.6.25.  I've
>>> currently got a Gentoo box that can build and run kernels ranging from
>>> 3.14.rc2 to 2.6.32. There are various gcc and make issues which have
>>> been successfully dealt with, but now I'm stuck on DEVTMPFS.
>>>
>>> Prior to 2.6.32 DEVTMPFS isn't available, so even though I can build
>>> and boot a 2.6.25 kernel, udev craps out.
>>>
>>> There are plenty of spare paritions to play with, so doing a Linux
>>> install to test with kernels older than 2.6.32 is no problem.
>>>
>>> I'm wondering if instead of downloading an old Ubuntu or Fedora DVD,
>>> is there any way to install an "old" version of Gentoo that will work
>>> with pre-DEVTMPFS kernels?
>>
>> Do you actually need udev?
>
> Good question -- I probably don't.  For the testing in question I
> should be able to live with a static /dev directory.  Is there any
> documentation on doing a Gentoo install without udev?
>
>> If you can get away with just having a static /dev with pre-created
>> device nodes, that would be the simplest solution.
>
> It would probably be asking for too much to try to toggle between udev
> and static /dev at boot time in a single installation...
>

I remember that it was possible to toggle before openrc was introduced.

As things stand now, you would probably have to replace sys-fs/udev with 
sys-fs/static-dev (which satisfies virtual/dev-manager). NeddySeagoon 
mentions it here:

http://dev.gentoo.org/~neddyseagoon/Old_Fashioned_Gentoo_2.xml

He also describes its coverage as being incomplete. In that case, this 
may help to populate /dev to a reasonable extent:

https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=368597#c97

--Kerin