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Hello, Gentoo. |
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|
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Yes, console soft scrolling is back! That essential feature that was |
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stripped out of the kernel at around 5.4.x has returned! |
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|
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Only this time, it's even better! Instead of one scrollback buffer |
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shared between all tty's, there's now a buffer for each tty. |
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|
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How to get it working: |
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(i) Extract the enclosed patch file to your /usr/src/linux-5.10.27-gentoo |
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directory (or probably any 5.10 kernel's). |
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(ii) From that directory run $ patch -p0 < diff.20210405.diff. |
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(iii)(a) If you've already got a working 5.10.27, do a $ make oldconfig. |
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That should bring up the new configuration items, for which you can |
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accept the defaults. These two items are a flag to enable the |
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scrollback, and a buffer size defaulting to 128kB. |
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(iii)(b) If you haven't yet got a 5.10.27, just configure your kernel in |
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the usual way. The two new items are under Device Drivers/Graphics |
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support/Console display driver support. |
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(iv) Build the kernel. |
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(v) Put the new kernel into your usual boot manager. |
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(vi) Reboot and enjoy! |
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|
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Admittedly, the exercise isn't quite finished - the patched source files |
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still have my personal change markings in them, to make debugging easier. |
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But the problems I reported here a few days ago are now solved. One or |
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two features haven't (yet) been implemented - having a single scroll |
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buffer shared amongst all tty's isn't there, and there're no kernel |
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command line parameters to control the feature. |
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|
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Also, you may wonder about how safe the patch is. All I can say is that |
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there is nothing malicious in it, and I am known on this list, but of |
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course if it breaks I won't be to blame. |
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|
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Bug reports and other comments are welcome, of course. |
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|
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If anybody would like the corresponding patch which works on 5.4.n, for n |
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>= 80, that is available, too. |
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|
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-- |
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Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany). |