Re: [gentoo-user] gentoo on a kvm - can't install kernel sources

[Alan McKinnon]

On 25/08/2013 19:01, Michael Mair-Keimberger wrote:
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> On Sunday 25 August 2013 18:23:07 Alan McKinnon wrote:
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>> On 25/08/2013 15:51, Michael Mair-Keimberger wrote:
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>> > Hi List,
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>> >
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>> >
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>> > Since a few days i'm trying to install gentoo on a kvm guest from
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>> > edis.at. They support to boot from a gentoo minimal live-cd in order to
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>> > install your own gentoo. The system has 5GB storage and 256MB ram.
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>> > Actually that should be enough for a minimal installation. However, till
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>> > now i couldn't get over that point where i'm trying to install the
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>> > kernel sources...
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>> > The partition of the hd looks like this right now:
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>> > 64MB /boot
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>> >
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>> > 256MB swap
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>> >
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>> > ~4,3GB /
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>> > Swap is active and i also made sure there are enough inodes on / (i had
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>> > to raised them).
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>> > Even though there is enough space and 256mb ram + 256mb swap should be
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>> > enough ram i can't install (copy) the kernel sources. They just stop
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>> >
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>> > suddenly. There is nothing in the build.log. Last view lines are:
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>> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-ac97.c
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>> >>>>
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>> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-pcm.c
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>> >>>>
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>> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa-ssp.c
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>> >>>>
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>> >>>> /usr/src/linux-3.10.7-gentoo/sound/soc/pxa/pxa2xx-i2s.c
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>> >
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>> > However i'll get errors in dmesg and it seems i'll get out of memory
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>> > while installing:
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>> > [snip]
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>> > [63599.551452] emerge invoked oom-killer: gfp_mask=0x201da, order=0,
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>> > oom_score_adj=0
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>> > [63599.551466] Pid: 12358, comm: emerge Not tainted 3.8.13-gentoo #1
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>> >
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>> > .
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>> > .
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>> > .
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>> > [63599.552434] Out of memory: Kill process 13382 (emerge) score 635 or
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>> > sacrifice child
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>> > [63599.552435] Killed process 13382 (emerge) total-vm:438472kB,
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>> > anon-rss:206552kB, file-rss:0kB
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>> > [snip]
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>> > Any idea what i can do here, except buying an better kvm? From the docs
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>> > 256MB should be fine so i don't know why it doesn't work?
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>>
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>> I cannot untar kernel sources on my virtualbox VMs with <=256M either,
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>> and that goes back at least 18 months. tar just consumes too much
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>> memory. Your options:
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>>
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>> - untar somewhere else and copy the uncompressed sources over
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>> - get more memory
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>> when you build the kernel, you will find the same issue. gcc is going to
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>> use much more ram than 256M to get the job done.
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>> Do keep in mind that you can probably get that VM to *run* in teeny
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>> amounts of memory - maybe even only 64M - but building a kernel is a
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>> hugely memory-intensive task
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> Thx for crosschecking.
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> Well it looks like docs are out of date, 256MB ram is definitely not
> enough. I already though about to extract it here and than copy it to
> the vm. However, uploading uncompressed kernel sources would take quite
> some time over my slow internet connection and i really wanted to avoid
> that.
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> Anyway, either copy or buy a better vm. I guess i'll gonna make my own
> vm at home and copy the full system over...


I'd recommend cross-building just a kernel and modules locally and
copying that to the vm, it will only be about 6 to 8M


Some food for thought:

I do question the wisdom though of running Gentoo on a VM like that.
I've always found that Gentoo (despite all it's fantastic awesomeness
elsewhere) is really not fitted for that specific task very well - it
tends to be a lot of pain and not much gain.

Why do you want Gentoo on the vm? Is there a very good reason, or is it
because you are familiar with it?

If the second reason, you might want to have a look at FreeBSD or one of
the binary distros based of Gentoo like Sabayon. You might find the best
of both worlds in that space.


-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@×××××.com