On Wed, 2004-09-01 at 23:23, Andrew Konosky wrote:
I have been installing the kernel rpms with yum/synaptic, but I have
read that the "vanilla" kernels, which I am guessing are the original
source-code versions, have more features, but are sometimes less stable
becuase thet are not edited for specific distributions. Is this correct?
I would like to compile the latest kernel version from source just to
see how it's done and also to see if the "vanilla" kernel is stable
enough for my system. Once it is compiled, will I have to manually add
the kernel to the grub config file? Any tips/tricks I should know about
when compiling a custom kernel?
I have found it useful to read the README file in the root of the kernel
sources tar file. It includes information about applying kernel patches.
Also, the file Documentation/Changes has things like minimum revisions
required for compiling and running a specific kernel.
It's a good idea to check out the makefile in the root (of the kernel
sources) as well. Set EXTRAVERSION on line 4 to something unique so you
don't overwrite any of your existing modules directories. I think the
install target still uses lilo by default, but I believe it gives you
the option of having your own installkernel script, and you may want to
uncomment where it sets INSTALL_PATH.
If you happen to be following the work of a specific developer because
of what you've read in lkml or elsewhere, you can usually find their
patches in /pub/linux/kernel/people on
kernel.org.
Enjoy!
--
C. Linus Hicks <lhicks(a)nc.rr.com>