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Can somebody explain me the difference between the following files:

drwxr-xr-x  28 root root      4096 Apr 22 12:04 linux-lts-raring-3.8.0
-rw-r--r--   1 root root  15209788 Mar 14 03:38 linux-lts-raring_3.8.0-38.56~precise1.diff.gz
-rw-r--r--   1 root root      6333 Mar 14 03:38 linux-lts-raring_3.8.0-38.56~precise1.dsc
-rw-r--r--   1 root root 107018407 May  8  2013 linux-lts-raring_3.8.0.orig.tar.gz

I want to write a simple driver and so would give the path of one of these in my driver Makefile.

OS Info

#lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS
Release:    12.04
Codename:   precise

Also:

3.8.0-38-generic #56~precise1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Mar 13 16:23:47 UTC 2014 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
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2 Answers 2

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3

What you present in your first listing are one directory (at the top, line starting with d is the giveaway) and 3 files. Of the files the last one looks like a Linux source tree for Ubuntu 13.04, the first a diff (difference between the previous source tree and Ubuntu 12.04. The .dsc file is the metadata for the first file.

In your Makefile you are unlikely to have to point to any of those files, but you might have to have it point to the directory if that contains the unpacked .tar.gz with the .diff applied.

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  • "have to to the"? Commented Apr 22, 2014 at 8:10
  • @FaheemMitha there was "point" missing there, thanks Commented Apr 22, 2014 at 8:45
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A source package in Debian and derivatives (Ubuntu, Mint, …) consists of three files:

  • NAME_VERSION.orig.tar.gz is the original (upstream) source code.
  • NAME_VERSION-REVISION.diff.gz or NAME_VERSION-REVISION.debian.tar.gz is the patch applied by Debian.
  • NAME_VERSION-REVISION.dsc is a small text file that contains some metadata about the other files.

VERSION is the upstream version number and REVISION. See the Debian policy manual for more information about package versions.

For packages maintained directly by Debian or a derivative, there is no .diff.gz or .debian.tar.gz file, and no -REVISION component in the package version.

What you have here is a kernel source package. The lts-raring package is a backport of the kernel from Ubuntu 13.04 raring to the previous long-time support version, Ubuntu 12.04 precise.

The kernel source is what you need if you want to browse the kernel source or to recompile a kernel with different compilation options or different patches. It is not what you need to compile external modules. See modpost.h:12:23: fatal error: elfconfig.h: No such file or directory

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