[Sussex] First kernel compile on the cards...

[Steve Dobson]

Hi Gavin

On Fri, Apr 23, 2004 at 11:47:36PM +0100, Gavin Stevens wrote:
> My upgrade to Debian Woody has left me with a very nice system & I'm well 
> pleased with it. However, I still don't have sr_mod to do SCSI emulation 
> for CD writing (sg & ide-scsi are there). So it looks like I am going have 
> to download & compile a kernel & add the modules that way (I didn't add 
> SCSI support when I first installed Potato 'cos I was a newbie who didn't 
> realise that SCSI was needed to make an IDE CD-R work).
> 
> I know that I could go for a 2.6 kernel & not have to bother with SCSI 
> emulation, but I'm wondering if this is a bit of a leap for various 
> reasons: I note that the new kernels are quite different in some ways 
> (initrd etc.). I tried a 2.4 kernel when I upgraded but couldn't get that 
> to work, so it might be too much in the first instance.
> 
> I'm currently running kernel 2.2.20. Does it sound sensible for me to get 
> the latest 2.2 kernel (2.2.26) & compile that? My thinking is that this 
> should require the minimum of alteration to my system to get working as it 
> is still a 2.2 kernel. (I seriously need to burn about 3 CDs as my HDD is 
> getting ever more full).

I have my new (cheep) DVD burner burning CDs just fine under 2.6.  Having
a little problem with DVDs which I need to figure out - when I get the time.

Personally I would always use the latest stable version of any software
if you're compiling it.  The help is better.  If you post a 2.2 question 
then it is so long since I compiled a 2.2 kernel that I probably won't 
answer as I'm no longer sure of the details.

> I went to kernel.org & there seem to be all sorts of different bits to 
> download there. For configuring (i e: adding the modules I need) & 
> compiling do I need the "full source" (around 15MB)?

Yes - you need to download the full source.  linux-<version>.tar.bz2

The patch (patch-<version>.bz2) files are there for people who already
have downloaded the full source and want to change it to the next version.
 
> I have looked at, & will read further, the Kernel-HOWTO; but that can't 
> answer these questions & it's always instructive to hear from those who 
> have actually compiled a kernel.

Personally the most difficult thing I think is getting all the config 
settings correct.  There is no easy way to figure all this out.  But if
you can make it to the moot next week I can demo building on my laptop.
 
> I hope these questions don't sound too daft & I would really appreciate 
> any thoughts on this.

Well you now have mine - for what they're worth.

Steve D