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Debian: fglrx-8.28.08

A linux-newbie's take on building a kernel module from source under debian.

Just thought I’d throw this up. I just switched over to kernel 2.6.17, and in doing so I needed to rebuild my fglrx kernel module to get hardware graphics going. Well the old package (8.24) would not compile under 2.6.17, so I did a little digging around the package page at debian.org and saw that there’s a 8.28.08. Problem is the binary was only for 64bit. While my processor is 64 bit, I’m probably not going to move over to a 64 bit install until etch (especially considering it’ll require a complete fresh install). So I got the 8.28.08 source. It consists of an archive and a diff patch. Well I’m still very much a linux neophyte and didn’t know how to proceed. That’s where this really great tutorial came in. It gave me everything I needed to know to get the actual .debs built. Beyond that it was simply following the fglrx-kernel-src package’s readme (using the module-assistant method) and wham bam thank you ma’am. Got to love the resources at your fingertips. Even better, Murray’s has a date stamped with it, so if someone in five years finds it they’ll know that it may not be entirely accurate. That was a problem I ran into recently in dealing with some other kernel modules, and something I run into all the time on google: old/obsolete data. Far too many posts, tutorials, etc. are undated. I believe Google should find some way to rectify this with their massive collection of what exists on the web. Yes, it would mean more data pulled and stored for each site, but ultimately it would be useful data. Stamp it the first time you get it, and stamp it with the most recent pull. Maybe somehow allow users to tag certain pages as time-sensitive. Ultimately it’s good to have old data around provided that you know it’s old, and you can build a chain of events/data before and after it to give it context. I’d also just like to say that I am loving linux. There are pains to making any change in your routine, but this has been an almost painless experience with no small amount of thanks due to the coders, maintainers, everyone who has ever filed a bug report or made a newsgroup, e-mail list, or web board post, and all of those friendly people on IRC that will make fun of you, and bitch at you, but above all still help you. linux for the world.

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One thought on “Debian: fglrx-8.28.08”

  1. By Debian: fglrx-8.28.08-1 » diehealthy.org » Blog Archive

    From

    […] To update my earlier post here, just wanted to mention that roughly the same version is now in sid. Just remember, the easiest way to build the kernel module is module-assistant. I’m still looking forward to getting X.org 7.1 into sid, especially with the prospects of AIGLX and eventually compiz. It seemed like it would be any day back in August, and at one point they accidentally uploaded a build to incoming, but so far no luck. The Debian X Strike Force does a great job and has a very solid organization that stays on top of things, so I’m sure the delays have their reasons. […]

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