SVDL creation fails on Fedora Core 3 because of lack of raw device support (4046199)

Title: Raw device support on Fedora Core 3 and 4
Date: 07/02/06
NV Version: 7.4 and higher
OS Version: Linux (Fedora Core 3 )
Application version: N/A
Plugin version: 1.7 and higher


Description:
The SVDL plugin relies on support for raw devices from the underlying operating system. This is not available out-of-the-box on Fedora Core 3 distributions and might affect other distributions as well.


Symptoms:
When trying to create an SVDL by right-clicking and selecting "Create SVDL" on a Fedora box, the cursor will transform into an egg timer and the window will appear to hang. Also, clients running Fedora won't be able to pick up an SVDL either.

Trace during an attempt to generate the SVDL will show:
0 DIRSCAN :5275 8 2 160547 Failed to open directory '/dev/raw': No such file or directory
0 SVDLPLGN:5275 13 0 160547 SVDLAddLibOpenGui: failed to scan for devices

The reason for this problem is that support for RAW devices needs to be enabled in the kernel, and has been disabled by Red Hat for the Fedora releases. Therefore, the kernel will have to be recompiled on these machines. Also, the util-linux will need to be recompiled with RAW support enabled.

A quick rundown of the procedure (note that this is outside the scope of BakBone support and will need to be checked against your specific distribution and relevant patch levels). Source: http://www.lacorona.com.mx/fortiz/linux/raw.htm

wget http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/updates/3/SRPMS/kernel-2.6.10-1.770_FC3.src.rpm

Install the sources:
rpm -ivh kernel-2.6.10-1.770_FC3.src.rpm

Modify the config file and enable the RAW options:
[root@tina ~]# cd /usr/src/redhat/SOURCES/
[root@tina SOURCES]# ll *.config
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 53868 Feb 24 12:55 kernel-2.6.10-i586-smp.config
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 53944 Feb 24 12:55 kernel-2.6.10-i586.config
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 54088 Mar 3 10:23 kernel-2.6.10-i686-smp.config
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 53920 Mar 3 14:07 kernel-2.6.10-i686.config
...

Most likely, it will be one of these files for your platform.

Change
# CONFIG_RAW_DRIVER is not set
to
CONFIG_RAW_DRIVER=y

Create (build) the new RPM:

[root@tina SPECS]# cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS
[root@tina SPECS]# rpmbuild -bb --target=i686 kernel-2.6.spec

After that you have the patched lernel package available:
[root@tina SPECS]# cd /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686
[root@tina i686]# ls
kernel-2.6.10-1.770_FC3RAW.root.i686.rpm
kernel-debuginfo-2.6.10-1.770_FC3RAW.root.i686.rpm
kernel-smp-2.6.10-1.770_FC3RAW.root.i686.rpm

Install and use it as always.

rpm -ivh kernel-smp-2.6.10-1.770_FC3RAW.root.i686.rpm

You will also need to modify and build util-linux:

wget http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/3/SRPMS/util-linux-2.12a-16.src.rpm

Install the source RPM:
rpm -ivh util-linux-2.12a-16.src.rpm

Check for the file util-linux.spec:
[root@tina ~]# cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS/
[root@tina SPECS]# ll util*
-rw-rw-r-- 1 root root 47363 Mar 3 09:41 util-linux.spec

Change the file to support the raw option:

vi util-linux.spec

# 'raw' support is deprecated, only ship it if we need compatibility stuff.
%define include_raw 1

Create a new package out of this:
rpmbuild -bb util-linux-spec

Check that the package is available:
[root@tina SPECS]# cd /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i386/
[root@tina i386]# ll
total 2264
-rw-rw-rw- 1 root root 1527064 Mar 3 09:47 util-linux-2.12a-16.i386.rpm

Install the new version - force it, since it will already be installed:
rpm -ivh --replacepkgs util-linux-2.12a-16.i386.rpm

Then try adding the SVDL again.