Providing a link to the kernel sources

Now log in again as user root, change to directory /usr/src/ and have a look at the directory structure there. In my case that look like:

Welcome to SuSE Linux 7.2 (i386) - Kernel 2.4.4-4GB (tty5).

mathplanet login: root
Password:
Last login: Sat Sep 15 08:38:35 on tty3
Have a lot of fun...
mathplanet:~ # cd /usr/src
mathplanet:/usr/src # ls -la
total 24
drwxr-xr-x    6 root     root         4096 Sep 21 17:27 .
drwxr-xr-x   20 root     root         4096 Aug 24 10:23 ..
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           11 Sep 21 17:27 linux -> linux-2.4.9
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root         4096 Sep 22 06:57 linux-2.4.4.SuSE
drwxr-xr-x   14 1046     101          4096 Sep 22 06:59 linux-2.4.7
drwxr-xr-x   14 1046     101          4096 Sep 22 09:07 linux-2.4.9
drwxr-xr-x    7 root     root         4096 Jul 18 14:57 packages
mathplanet:/usr/src #

The important line for now is

lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           11 Sep 21 17:27 linux -> linux-2.4.9

This shows that some entry called linux exists. In this case, is is a link (a so called soft-link), pointing to a directory linux-2.4.9 with the kernel source. (I now use kernel 2.4.9. If you use the SuSE Kernel 2.4.4-4GB from SuSE, then the link should of course point to linux-2.4.4.SuSE or whatever kernel directory you have.) The entry linux must either be itself a directory with the kernel source or must be a link pointing to your kernel source. So what if neither of that is the case? Since you have installed the kernel sources, there should be some directory containing the kernel source. You can now either rename the kernel directory to just plain linux using e.g. the mv command or (more elegantly) you can provide a new link linux that points then to the right directory. For the later, just enter

mathplanet:/usr/src # ln -s linux-2.4.9 linux

where linux-2.4.9 of course must be replaced by the name of the proper kernel source directory on your computer. After that the link should be there and you can continue installing.