Re: ext3 inclusion in kernel config file

From: Felipe Alfaro Solana
Date: Mon Jan 10 2005 - 18:22:54 EST


On 10 Jan 2005, at 14:58, linux lover wrote:

Hello,
I have downloaded kernel 2.4.24 and compiled it as per
my requirement. I have included here my config file.
My requirements are to use this kernel on LAN with NIC
8139too and limited functionality. I have Intel
845GLAD motherboard. What i want to know is that is
any necessary component am i missing to include???
Also i am confuse about ext3 filesystem. I think
its essential to compile with ext3 support but how to
include it either Module or Built-in support. I have
compiled with exts as Module as well as built in and
both are working. But i want to know standard way.

Ext3 isn't esentially a necessary filesystem: it depends on whether you will use it. Many Linux distributions use ReiserFS by default, others use ext3. So in fact, it depends. First, you will need to know what filesystem is being used by your root filesystem. Thus, you will probably want to compile the corresponding module into your kernel (instead of using a module).

For example, on my main workstation, I use ext3 and thus, I choose to build ext3 into the kernel. However, on my laptop I usually prefer to use ext2 and thus, I build ext2 into the kernel and don't build ext3 at all.

If your kernel works with ext3 as a module or built-in, is probably due to the fact that, either your root filesystem is not ext3, or you are using an Initial RAMDISK (initrd) which is loaded together with the kernel image into RAM by the bootloader. The kernel mounts the initial RAMDISK as the root filesystem and uses a /linuxrc script to start booting the system. I guess your Initial RAMDISK does also include the ext3.ko kernel module which is loaded into memory by /linuxrc in order to allow for mounting your real ext3 root filesystem later.

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