There is a wide range of kernels where LVM is available on. In Linux 2.4, LVM will be fully integrated. From kernel 2.3.47 and onwards, LVM is in the process of being merged into the main kernel.
Will contain everything you need. It is expected that most distributions will release with LVM included as a module. If you need to compile, just tick off the LVM option when selecting your block devices.
Once things have calmed down on the kernel development front, this section will vanish. For now, the gory details.
As we write this, Linux 2.3.99pre5 is current and it still needs a very tiny patch to get LVM working.
For Linux 2.3.99pre3, two patches were released:
The patch was posted on linux-kernel, and is available here.
Andrea Arcangeli improved on that patch, and supplied an incremental patch, which should be applied on top of the 2.3.99pre3 LVM patch above.
For Linux 2.3.99pre5, bert hubert rolled these two patches into one and ported it to 2.3.99pre5. Patch. Use with care.
2.3.99pre6-1, yes, a prerelease of a prepatch, features for the first time complete LVM support! It stil misses Andreas patch but we have been assured that it is in the queue to be released real soon.
2.3.99pre4-ac1 has the tiny LVM patch in by default, and working. It does not contain Andreas patch though.
FIXME: write this
FIXME: write this
You need the tools available from the LVM site. Compiling them on glibc2.1 systems requires a tiny patch, and even then gives errors on Debian 2.2.