UnderworldLabs.org

A recent [documented] change in the debian kernel-package effectively rendered the –initrd flag to a kernel build all but useless (a little harsh, i know). In actual fact, it now only notifies the hook scripts that an initrd is required – however one is no longer created.

This created a little bit of fuss on the various lists and a few bug reports at bugs.debian.org. Some of the more informative ones can be found here and here.

In short, the change was documented in the package NEWS and README files with hints to check out the post script sample scripts and apply these to the relevant directories in /etc/kernel.

I copied over the following:

/usr/share/kernel-package/examples/etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs

to

/etc/kernel/postinst.d

and

/usr/share/kernel-package/examples/etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs

to

/etc/kernel/postrm.d

From there just a normal build and install and all was well.

I always forget how to do this and subsequent updates bugger things up.

We are trying to tell the system that the hardware clock is set to UTC.

Edit the following: /etc/default/rcS. Modify UTC to read UTC=yes (or no depending on what you are trying to achieve).

Some additional good resources for time:  Debian Administration and the Debian online docs.

More 2.6.25 issues…

Attempt to build nvidia module for kernel 2.6.25.1 failed. The nvidia installer needs to be patched as described here. After this. just build and install as normal and all is well.