[sclug] Building a kernel

[Bob Franklin]

On Fri, 9 Jul 2004, Derek M Jones wrote:

> Does anybody have any recommendations?  There does not seem to be a 
> switch on everything and build option (there are a few warnings about 
> probing non-existent hardware during boot).
>
> What I really need is a program that probes my hardware and generates a 
> .config file specifically for it.  Pointers anybody?

The biggest problem I have is making sure I include enough as static 
(rather than modules) so the damn thing boots from the SCSI disk which has 
the root filesystem on it, rather than have the module to run the SCSI 
card in /lib.

The only times I've had trouble actually getting it to compile were when I 
was trying out shonky experimental modules (like when trying to get the 
USB ADSL modem to work about 4 years ago).


I'm about to go from SuSE 7.2 -> 9.1 and was compiling up a 2.6 kernel for 
the first time, about a week ago.  There didn't seem a way to reliably go 
from a 2.4 configuration to 2.6, so I had to step laboriously through 
every option, working out if I needed it or not.  Haven't actually tried 
booting it, though - bet there'll be something crucial missing.

I do wonder why I do it, though - the distributions usually handle new 
kernels or patches for you and update through the appropriate automatic 
on-line thingymawhatsit.  However, it's still nice to compile up your own 
kernel with the latest iptables stuff in it.

   - Bob


-- 
  Bob Franklin <r.c.franklin at reading.ac.uk>          +44 (0)118 378 7147
  Systems and Communications, IT Services, The University of Reading, UK