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Generic Kernel Compilation

ActiveX
ActiveX Posts: 59
in Installation

Hi.

I've downloaded linux-2.6.33.2 kernel package from kernel.org. Now I wanna compile and install this kernel. I extract the kernel but there's no configure program that can help me configure the kernel.

How should I do this?

Comments

  • mfillpot
    mfillpot Posts: 2,177
    This site will help you through the process. http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/compiling-linux-kernel-26.html
  • ActiveX
    ActiveX Posts: 59
    hahahahaha....!

    Reading this page makes me feel like the most stupid person in the world who has asked the most stupid question!
    Looks like understanding this process and following through it is thousands of miles away from my current place in linux!

    Isn't it so? lol
  • mfillpot
    mfillpot Posts: 2,177
    ActiveX wrote:
    hahahahaha....!

    Reading this page makes me feel like the most stupid person in the world who has asked the most stupid question!
    Looks like understanding this process and following through it is thousands of miles away from my current place in linux!

    Isn't it so? lol

    It does seem easy when you read about it, but I have had problems in the past with including the necessary modules. So the lesson to be learned is to your research and note all modules listed in lsmod so they can be included in the build.
  • woboyle
    woboyle Posts: 501
    1. Make sure you have the ncurses package installed in your system.
    2. Go to the directory where you installed the kernel source code
    3. Run the command "make menuconfig"
    4. Select the options/components you need for your system. Take your time with this.
    5. When you exit the configuration UI it will ask if you want to save the new configuration or not. Select the Yes optioon (or not if you are not sure).
    6. When you have saved your configuration, run the command "make" without any arguments. That will build the kernel.

    You should probably read your distribution's howto's for building a kernel, but this is the short version of what to do.
  • ActiveX
    ActiveX Posts: 59
    ok. So I'm hopeful to taking some results again. But there's a problem with compilation again:

    Some c header files do not exist on my system. But I don't know where to download them. How may I cope with this?

    The same went with me last night when I was gonna compile VLC media player. I didn't have some of header files, so I couldn't compile it. But I installed it using Synpatic and it gathered all the headers that was required to compile and install VLC.

    Can I do the same by myself? I mean to download headers from something like Synaptic's repositories? If I can do so, then I can collect all the headers I need for kernel compilation and then follow through.

    One other thing I wanted to ask is: There are thousands of c and h files in kernel package. Do I ever happen to need to know about their functions? I ask this because I may need to know which headers to download, then I ask myself "For which file's inclusion do I download this header and what is it used for?".

    Do I need to cope with these technical things at all, for kernel compilation?

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