[Techtalk] Is Linux 2.4.18 Really That Unstable?

[caitlynmaire at earthlink.net]

Hi, Julie, and everyone else,
> 
> Explain.  This is a large machine (240GB disk) and I can't just
> back it up and re-install all my apps and data.

By rebuilding I mean reinstalling the OS cleanly.  Hopefully with a
large disk like that you've broken your install down into several
partition, and things like /usr/local and/or /opt where third party apps
would go and, of course, /home, are on separate partitions.  Your data
would still be intact that way, as would most non-rpm installed apps. 
Apps intsalled through rpm directly into /usr that did not come with the
OS would have to be reinstalled.
> 
> FWIW, I have built =many= kernels on this thing and run all
> sorts of programs, including multiple VMWares at the same time.
> The behavior is 2.4.2-2 runs for weeks and months, 2.4.18+
> runs for days.  When it crashes it starts with a random program
> dying from a segfault, then the entire machine hangs a short
> while later.

I have SMP machines with RAID arrays running RH 7.3 (2.4.18-10) and RH
8.0 (2.4.18-14) in production with no such problems.
> 
> Oh -- I also saw problems on an Athalon machine I built running
> Red Hat 7.2 with ext3 that I didn't see on the same machine
> running Win2K.  The same thing is true with this machine -- it
> runs Win2K like a dream.

I can't speak to Red Hat's Athlon kernel builds as all our machines have
Intel processors.

I can say that getting Win2K running on our Thinkpads is a nightmare
when we rebuild them.  Umpteen Windows update runs, bunches of drivers
to install, and way too many reboots.  I can build four with RH 8 in the
time it takes to do one with Win2K.  The only issue has been linmodem
drivers.  There were nice binary ones for 7.3, but it's not yet true for
8.0.  So... I do have to recompile the kernel now, which makes things
take longer.

Regards,
Caity