NOTE: These instructions are for OrangeFS 2.8.5. Later versions may build on Debian with no custom modification.

In order to build the OrangeFS kernel module on Debian, we must download kernel source and use it for module building. (You do NOT need to install a new kernel.)

These instructions use Debian kernel version 2.6.32-5-amd64. Therefore the kernel source package used was version 2.6.32. Your kernel version can be determined by running uname -r. Substitute your kernel version where necessary.

1. Download needed packages:

apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64 linux-headers-2.6.32-5-common linux-source-2.6.32

2. Extract and prepare the kernel source:

cd /usr/src
bunzip2 linux-source-2.6.32.tar.bz2
tar -xf linux-source.2.6.32.tar
cd /usr/src/linux-source.2.6.32
cp /boot/config-2.6.32-5-amd64 .config  # use current configuration
make modules_prepare  # use defaults when prompted for configuration changes
ln -s ../linux-headers-2.6.32-5-amd64/Module.symvers

3. Make the OrangeFS kernel module

cd ~/orangefs/   # example location of OrangeFS source
./configure --with-kernel=/usr/src/linux-2.6.32 ...
make kmod
sudo make kmod_install
mv /lib/modules/2.6.32/kernel/fs/pvfs2 /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-amd64/kernel/fs  # move module to standard dir

These instructions may be helpful for other distributions.