driver limbo via paravirt_ops

(in Linux on 2007/07/07)

Both the NVIDIA and ATI binary video card drivers glom onto the paravirt_ops symbols in recent kernels, and fail to install because some of those symbols are protected from non-GPL callers.

  1. install the new kernel — apt-get install linux-image-2.6.21-2-686
  2. apt-get source linux-image-2.6.21-2-686 ,
  3. sed -e ’s/CONFIG_PARAVIRT=y/CONFIG_PARAVIRT=n/’ /boot/config-2.6.21-2-686 > linux-2.6-2.6.21/.config
  4. cd linux-2.6-2.6.21 && make-kpkg –bzimage –append-to-version cov –initrd buildpackage
  5. Install the packages generated in working directory
  6. m-a get madwifi # prepare to install madwifi on next boot when wireless goes away
  7. reboot
  8. m-a a-i madwifi, reinstall ATI drivers