CODEWITHSUNDEEP
linuxubuntugcclinux-kernel
Mike
Mike

Reputation: 1857

Compile an old Linux kernel on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

I tried to compile the Linux kernel 3.10.31 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. I used to compile the exact same kernel on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, and everything works well.

On Ubuntu 16.04, the gcc version is gcc-5; On Ubuntu 12.04, the gcc version is gcc-4.6.

It seems that the Linux kernel kernel before 3.18 cannot compile with the gcc-5. The kernel 3.10.31 reports the following error when it is compiled by make

 fatal error: linux/compiler-gcc5.h: No such file or directory

I tried to install gcc-4.7 onto Ubuntu 16.04 and change the /usr/bin/gcc to point to the gcc-4.7. This could solve the above error. However, it leads to new issues after I run make

$linux/arch/x86/Makefile:98: stack protector enabled but no compiler support
make[1]: Nothing to be done for 'all'.
make[1]: Nothing to be done for 'relocs'.
  CHK     include/generated/uapi/linux/version.h
  CHK     include/generated/utsrelease.h
  CC      kernel/bounds.s
gcc-4.7.real: error: unrecognized command line option ‘-no-pie’
linux/./Kbuild:35: recipe for target 'kernel/bounds.s' failed
make[1]: *** [kernel/bounds.s] Error 1
Makefile:835: recipe for target 'prepare0' failed
make: *** [prepare0] Error 2

My question is:

Is there a neat way to use the old compiling chain to compile the old kernel 3.10.31 on Ubuntu 16.04?

Thank you very much for your help! Any advice is really appreciated.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 6030

Answers (3)

coolder
coolder

Reputation: 164

Open the Makefile, look for CFLAGS_EXTRA and add the following option to it -fno-pie. See, https://askubuntu.com/questions/851433/kernel-doesnt-support-pic-mode-for-compiling.

Upvotes: 0

Z.Zander
Z.Zander

Reputation: 35

Ubuntu 16.04 now still supports gcc-4.7 so you can install it and then you can choose the version of gcc before using it by update-alternatives.

For examples:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-4.4 40
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/gcc gcc /usr/bin/gcc-5 50
sudo update-alternatives --config gcc # here you choose by hint

If you directly download compiler-gcc5.h, you may meet problems like arch/x86/kvm/svm.c error invalid character that I met when compiling 3.3.8 in Ubuntu 16.04.3 x64.

Upvotes: 0

Mike
Mike

Reputation: 1857

I think I figured out a solution.

We don't have to install the old version gcc. We only need to copy the file compiler-gcc5.h from here or from here into include/linux/. It will solve the compilation issue.

Upvotes: 4

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