[gentoo-user] Re: Kernel upgrade from 4.1.12 to 4.4.6 hangs without writing logs.

[Hans]

On 30/04/16 00:28, Michael Mol wrote:
> On Friday, April 29, 2016 10:56:28 PM Hans wrote:
>> On 28/04/16 22:22, Hans wrote:
>>> On 27/04/16 21:33, J. Roeleveld wrote:
>>>> On April 27, 2016 12:59:18 PM GMT+02:00, Hans <linux@×××××.com> wrote:
>>>>> Tried to upgrade the kernels of my desktop and notebook fron kernel
>>>>> 4.1.12 upgrade to 4.4.6. Both systems freeze during booting with 4.4.6.
>>>>>
>>>>> No dmsg, No messages logs. Previous kernel upgrades always worked
>>>>> smooth
>>>>> as silk.
>>>>>
>>>>> Using: OpenRC, eudev, Xfce,
>>>>>
>>>>> Desktop configration:
>>>>> Genkernel with /etc/genkernel.conf additional options:
>>>>> MENUCONFIG="yes"
>>>>> MAKEOPTS="-j5"
>>>>> MDADM="yes"
>>>>> MDADM_CONFIG="/etc/mdadm.conf"
>>>>> DISKLABEL="yes"
>>>>> KNAME="genkernel-G_ROOT"
>>>>>
>>>>> Boot: Grub-static
>>>>> grub.conf:
>>>>> title PROXY-64 domdadm LABEL=G_ROOT Gentoo Linux 4.4.6-gentoo
>>>>> root (hd0,0)
>>>>> kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-G_ROOT-x86_64-4.4.6-gentoo net.ifnames=0
>>>>> root=/dev/ram0 domdadm real_root=LABEL=G_ROOT
>>>>> initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-G_ROOT-x86_64-4.4.6-gentoo
>>>>>
>>>>> No error reported in genkernel.log
>>>>> ------------------
>>>>>
>>>>> Notebook configration:
>>>>> Genkernel with /etc/genkernel.conf additional options:
>>>>> MENUCONFIG="yes"
>>>>> MAKEOPTS="-j5"
>>>>> DISKLABEL="yes"
>>>>> KNAME="genkernel-HP_ROOT"
>>>>>
>>>>> Boot: Grub-static
>>>>> grub.conf:
>>>>> title PROXY-64 domdadm LABEL=HP_ROOT Gentoo Linux 4.4.6-gentoo
>>>>> root (hd0,0)
>>>>> kernel /boot/kernel-genkernel-HP_ROOT-x86_64-4.4.6-gentoo net.ifnames=0
>>>>>
>>>>> root=/dev/ram0 real_root=LABEL=HP_ROOT
>>>>> initrd /boot/initramfs-genkernel-HP_ROOT-x86_64-4.4.6-gentoo
>>>>>
>>>>> No error reported in genkernel.log
>>>>> -------------------
>>>>
>>>> Why are you specifying root=/dev/ram0?
>>>>
>>>> Modern kernels use initramfs and you normally specify the real root
>>>> device there.
>>>
>>> "root=/dev/ram0" is a leftover from the original installation from a
>>> long time ago. Removing it makes no difference.
>>>
>>> Am at the moment making a new test installation in VirtualBox. So far
>>> its working with kernel 4.4.6. If Xfce works tomorrow, it's either a
>>> configuration or driver problem. I will then do a re-install of Gentoo
>>> on my desktop and the notebook using a external drive.
>>
>> Kernel 4.4.6 as a bug. x11-drivers/xf86-video-virtualbox does not compile.
>> Reason:
>> /usr/src/linux-4.4.6-gentoo/include/linux/string.h
>> 'char *strreplace(char *s, char old, char new);' causes compile failure.
>> "new" is a C++ keyword.
>> Changing tp 'char *strreplace(char *s, char oldstr, char newstr);' fixes
>> the problem.
>
> That's not a bug in the kernel per se, that's a bug in using that kernel
> header (written in C) in a compiler expecting C++ code. Which would make it a
> bug in xf86-video-virtualbox for not linking against a C-compiled object file.
>
> Granted, it'd be a heck of a lot more convenient if the kernel header files
> didn't use C++ keywords...but it *is* fundamentally a problem with compiling a
> source file using the wrong language. Like trying to read something in
> Portugese, except it was written in Spanish. It might work some of the time,
> but it'll catch you out eventually.
>

The Virtualbox internal runtime compiler, assembler and gcc compiler to 
build executables such as app-emulation/virtualbox-guest-additions, etc. 
use some of the kernel sources and headers.

Kernel 4.1.12 string.h and earlier did not have this silly problem.