On Tue, 2012-07-10 at 08:54 -0700, Mike McClain wrote:
Howdy,
On Tue, Jul 10, 2012 at 05:03:12PM +0500, Muhammad Yousuf Khan wrote:
why people do compiling. i have heard many time that people are
compiling kernel on debian.
what is the reason for this? i am using debian for almost 1.5 year and
have been using it on different platform in CLI mode. but no need of
compiling in this time window.
The kernel provided when you install Linux, Debian included, has to work
on nearly every system out there so it includes drivers for nearly piece
of hardware that can be installed in a PC.
I always compile a kernel with only the hardware I have in my computer.
This gives me a smaller memory footprint and a smaller disk footprint.
It's all a matter of what you want.
Those smaller footprints usually aren't needed for modern computers,
since we've usually got more than enough disc space and RAM. OTOH we
perhaps change some hardware from time to time and then we need
different modules. Perhaps a visitor has some hardware, that should work
on our computers. It's a dangerous balancing act. I wouldn't remove too
much.