SysAdmin Adventures

I’ve been trying to build a media centre pc based on Slackware 13.0 and done pretty well using XBMC which I think is pretty damn good. At the moment, it lacks any TV support, which leaves me with MythTV. In order to play with MythTV, you have to get it installed. There is no SlackBuild for it at SlackBuilds.org because it’s a righteous pain in the arse. Nevertheless, I have modified the SlackBuild for 12.2 by David Somero and successfully compiled and installed MythTV. I haven’t yet fully tested it, so I can’t tell you if or how well it works, but it definitely compiled ok.

In order to get it to build against a recent kernel, I’ve had to move away from the official 0.21 release to subversion, however I don’t mean /trunk. In the MythTV subversion repository, as well as the tagged 0.21 release and the current /trunk, there is also a branch called 0-21-fixes. Now, any other software project would be releasing snapshots of this branch as 0.21.<minor-rev>, but MythTV choose not to, so you effectively have to consider this branch as an unstable stable, which means it works where the official 0.21 release doesn’t, but because it’s subject to commits it might not be properly stable.

You will also need to install qt3-compat from the Slackware 13.0 “/extra/kde3-compat” directory, and it’s probably worth making sure you have lame installed too.

The SlackBuild tarball is here:

MythTV SlackBuild

• I RECOMMEND YOU READ THROUGH THE SCRIPT BEFORE YOU USE IT.
• I ACCEPT NO LIABILITY IF THE SCRIPT DESTROYS YOUR MACHINE.
• THIS SCRIPT IS ONLY VALID FOR 32-BIT SLACKWARE 13.0.

The script checks out the head of the 0-21-fixes branch into /tmp/mythtv-build/mythtv and installs into /tmp/mythtv-build/package-mythtv before outputting a package into /tmp.

It ought to be simple enough to modify the script for 64-bit slack with a configure flag here or there, but I don’t have a 64-bit Slackware machine available that I am prepared to test it on.

20091207 Update: Superceded by http://slackbuilds.org/repository/13.0/multimedia/mythtv/

Ok, so I’ve made clear how I feel about using an initrd to boot your generic kernel. I also think that running the huge kernel on a permanent basis is equally insane. So I guess I’d better tell you about the alternative: compiling your own kernel.

I should make it clear straight away that by no means do I consider the kernel an easy topic for most people to deal with, nor do I think I have a full grasp on every nuance myself; but I do think that the best thing you can ever do for your system is to build your own. Needless to say there are already a million billion kernel compilation guides out there, but they all make such a big deal out of what is an unbelievably simple process, especially in Slackware.

So.. give me five minutes of your time and I will show you the process I follow for each and every Slackware box I administer that gives me a generic kernel, no initrd, and endless options for customisation should I choose to take them. It’s simple, trust me.


Compiling your own kernel in Slackware Linux in 10 easy steps…