Need ncurses, module-assistant to build Linux kernel?

I think I may be getting somewhere with my compile problems for building Linux kernel modules for Voyage.

First of all, modpost apparently comes with linux-headers and is built when the kernel source is run with a "make" command.

Secondly, building the kernel apparently requires ncurses, which was causing most of my module build scripts to fail.

Several posts are recommending moving from modpost to module-assistant for Debian (and here) ... but alas, most modules I am working with are already configured to work with modpost. :( But something to keep in mind if I am writing my own kernel modules.

UPDATE, June 25, 2008 3:45 pm: I installed ncurses using this command:

apt-get install libncurses-dev

and I could indeed build the kernel without any problems.

And Linux is now a wireless AP router

I followed the instructions in the YoLinux article on making the Linux gateway ... and it works perfectly. The WORKIT AP now functions as a gateway router, instead of the bridge as it was earlier. (The LinuxJournal article mentioned in my previous post is a little old at this point.)

I just had to follow the instructions to set up the gateway. This is what I used for the WORKIT AP (eth0 is my wired WAN connection and ath0 is the wireless LAN):

   # Delete and flush. Default table is "filter". Others like "nat" must be explicitly stated.
  # Flush all the rules in filter and nat tables
  iptables --flush           
  iptables --table nat --flush
  # Delete all chains that are not in default filter and nat table
  iptables --delete-chain    
  iptables --table nat --delete-chain

  # Set up IP FORWARDing and Masquerading
  iptables --table nat --append POSTROUTING --out-interface eth0 -j MASQUERADE
  iptables --append FORWARD --in-interface ath0 -j ACCEPT

  # Enables packet forwarding by kernel
  echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward             

Also, while instructions exist for both iptables and ipchains, you will find yourself using the iptables rules since ipchains was RIP after Linux 2.4 came out.

Setting up a Linux AP: Bridge vs. router

Now that I have DHCP and DNS set up, the last thing I need to do is set up the WORKIT box to act as a complete AP by bridging the wireless (LAN) and wired (WAN) connections.

I naively followed linux.com's instructions on setting up a wireless AP by bridging the connections.

I was surprised to see that it completely broke the DHCP/DNS/gateway system I had set up - my wireless client instead picked up the IP address (DNS and DHCP) from the department's regular network. And my "gateway" (the WORKIT AP) had "disappeared", since I was not being assigned an IP address from it and was not on its internal network (10.0.0.x) that I had set up.

What had happened? I finally realized I had set up Linux on the WORKIT AP as a glorified wireless bridge (think switch/hub), not a router!

What I now need to do is set up Linux to act as a gateway, so the WORKIT AP acts completely as a full AP.

A little more search leads to YoLinux's article on setting up a Linux gateway and on Linux Journal as well. Basically, this involves a little fiddling around with iptables...

Installing Kernel AODV for Linux

I attempted to install the "Kernel AODV" kernel module today for the WORKIT AP. Progress was relatively smooth till the last step of the make process, which called "modpost" to create the kernel module.

As expected, there were some issues with my header include files, so had to change the Makefile and include the following lines:

CFLAGS += -I/usr/include/
CFLAGS += -I/usr/include/linux/
CFLAGS += -I/home/linux-2.6.20.1/include

(the last one is the custom directory where I untarred the kernel source.)

In addition, I also had to copy the following files from the kernel source directory:

• irq_regs.h
• device.h
• pda.h

to /usr/include/asm, since the compiler was complaining that they were missing.

After moving all the files, the compilation went smoothly and produced all the .o files; however, it is now stuck at the last step of actually making it a kernel module using "modpost". More information coming soon.

Installing kernel source in Voyage Linux

While making kernel based modules, I got an error of the type:

"Missing .config file in /lib/modules/2.6.20-486-voyage/build"

The reason this happens is because the kernel source is not installed with Voyage Linux, but if you are building kernel modules, you need access to this.

apt-get install kernel-sources does not work either.

What I did was:

1. Download the corresponding kernel source version from the Linux kernel archives.
2. Untar to /lib/modules/2.6.20-486-voyage/build
3. Run "make config"
   
4. Make sure to turn on "kernel support for .config files" (turned off by default, this is one of the first few options)

Now, you have a fully functioning kernel source tree in your Voyage Linux installation so you can compile kernel modules.

UPDATE, June 25, 2008: From a forum post, I found that you can actually find the source code for the Voyage Linux 0.4 kernel from their website at : http://www.voyage.hk/dists/0.4/linux/.

Actually, it looks like most of their distros have source online as well. Just replace "0.4" in the above link with your distribution number and expect to find your source tarball there.

Resolving compile problems with PSU's MAR - include directories and postgresql-dev

Today I attempted to install PSU's Multiple Access Router component for WORKIT. However, I found that I had to set up the include directories in the makefile in order to get the component to compile.

These are the lines I added to the CONFIGURE that is used by the Makefile to get it to work:

CFLAGS += -I/usr/lib/gcc/i486-linux-gnu/4.1.2/include/
CFLAGS += -I/usr/include/c++/4.1.2/
CFLAGS += -I/usr/include/c++/4.1.2/i486-linux-gnu/
CFLAGS += -I/usr/include/linux/

In addition, I also had to install the Postgresql-dev package since it complained of "libpq-fe.h" missing. I installed it using:

apt-get install postgresql-dev

I did have to change one setting that was causing a conflict with the INCLUDE directories for the root Makefile. This file was /dotconf/Makefile, and I commented the following line:

# CFLAGS =

dnsmasq now working as DHCP server as well

Now I have dnsmasq working as a DHCP server as well.

In my configuration, I added the following lines:

dhcp-range=ath0,10.0.0.10,10.0.0.250,24h
dhcp-leasefile=/var/tmp/dnsmasq.leases
dhcp-authoritative
# Gateway
dhcp-option=3,10.0.0.1
# DNS
dhcp-option=6,10.0.0.1

and dnsmasq is now able to serve up DHCP addresses on the fly to clients.

dnsmasq now works for DNS requests - after initial "query refused"

For a long time, I was having a problem where dnsmasq refused to respond to DNS requests and gave an error message "query refused".

At first I thought that it might have been because dnsmasq wasn't running or not binding to the proper port, but after using "netstat -ap" and running "dnsmasq -d", it was obvious that dnsmasq was running and able to receive the queries.

So why wasn't dnsmasq failing to do IP lookups and interact with the upstream DNS servers? Even though from most documentation (such as on Debian and ubuntu.wordpress.com) suggests that a simple apt-get would do the trick?

Anyway, I found that my /etc/resolv.conf had only 127.0.0.1 listed as its nameserver, and dnsmasq was using this as its resolv.conf . I looked around to see if I could find another file that the resolvconf binary was generating that had the actual nameservers, and I found this file: /etc/resolvconf/run/interface/eth0

I change a line in /etc/dnsmasq.conf to read:

resolv-file=/etc/resolvconf/run/interface/eth0

And hey presto, it worked!

Network (eth0) automatically gets IP address using DHCP now

I recently ran into a strange problem with the Voyage/Soekris box, where the box would not get the IP address using DHCP on bootup, even with the network cable plugged in. However, when I manually reset the networking (using ifdown/ifup eth0 or /etc/init.d/networking restart), it would work properly.

This was strange, as it had been working fine all along, and I had the /etc/network/interfaces set up as follows:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

After prolonged searching on the Internet, I found two entries on Ubuntu forums:

• No more automatic dhclient on bootup
• Network not connecting automatically on boot

that helped, but didn't quite work in my case.

I finally added a line to the /etc/network/interfaces file to make it read like this:

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
pre-up ifconfig eth0 up

and then, hey presto, the network card now picks up an IP address automatically on boot.

Fixing dnsmasq problems on Soekris/Voyage Linux

(Sorry, my research blogging has been intermittent - but it does affect my documentation, so I am trying to be consistent about it.)

This morning, I needed to look at the DNS and DHCP servers on the Soekris box - somehow, it wasn't working perfectly.

The problem started when I first tried to install dhcpd (the DHCP server) last year without realizing dnsmasq had already been installed - and without knowing what dnsmasq is. After some frustrating error messages and doing some Google searches for dnsmasq and dhcpd, I finally found out more about how they work.

This article gives a good overview of how to set up dnsmasq.