tlug: 2 Problems with Kernel 2.2.1 upgrade

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Neil" == Neil Booth <NeilB@example.com> writes:

    Neil> However, I can't surf the web

This is a pretty uninformative symptom to report; what could be wrong?
I'm not going to count the ways, it'll take much too long.

What does `/sbin/ifconfig' tell you?  How about `/sbin/route -n'?  If
it looks like your net interface is up, try `ping 127.0.0.1'
(localhost, if this doesn't work something is very wrong indeed), then
ping somewhere on the lan.  If you don't have a lan, ping something
via ppp.  Then try `host <something>'.  What does `top' tell you?

    Neil> Is this a kernel configuration problem? I know little about
    Neil> networking, so I wouldn't know if this is a missing
    Neil> configuration item, or a

I doubt it.  If it were a configuration problem, you'd be missing
functionality.  Netscape should get a failure code from one of its
functions and tell you you're offline.

    Neil> userspace problem. I suspect the former as I can browse fine
    Neil> under 2.0.36.

Both Netscape and pppd are pretty flaky apps in my experience,
breaking at almost any opportunity.  Anything that uses kernel
services could break on a kernel upgrade.  I've had problems with
vfork under 2.2.0 on sparc; if Netscape uses vfork to launch its DNS
helper app, that could be the problem.

Did you enable firewalling in the kernel?  If so, you probably need to 
make the correct incantations with ipchains.

    Neil> Also, has anyone who has upgraded to modutils-2.1.121
    Neil> managed to keep modules working when booting under 2.0.x? It
    Neil> appears to have broken my modular 2.0.x kernel as it cannot
    Neil> load ppp anymore as a module.

Rebuilding the 2.0.x kernel and modules has worked for me twice, once
on i836 and once on sparc.

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