Re: Firmware list
On Tue, May 24, 2005 at 10:32:46AM +0200, Lars Roland wrote:
> On 5/24/05, Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au> wrote:
> > 1. install kernel-package and all other kernel build tools
> > 2. download original kernel source from kernel.org
> > 3. make config to configure your kernel
> > 4. make-kpkg ... to build your own kernel-image .deb
>
> I usually build my own kernels using the kernel build system, I have
> never tried generating debian kernel images.
it's easy. instead of running "make vmlinuz" or whatever, you just run
"make-kpkg --revision=XXXX kernel_image" and it builds a kernel-image
package for you.
it can also optionally modules packages for you for any debianised module
source untarred in /usr/src/modules (e.g. for alsa, hostap, lirc, i2c,
lmsensors, mgavid, nvidia, and others).
that gives you custom kernel (and module) images under dpkg package
manegement.
> How well does these self made kernel debs do if I want to redistribute
> them to other servers ?
in a word: brilliantly.
use your fastest machine to compile kernels for all your boxes and scp
them to where they're needed...then install with 'dpkg -i'. that's one
of the main reasons i use make-kpkg.
i do this in /usr/local/src/kernels, where i have several kernel source
versions untarred, plus config files for numerous machines.
e.g. a file config-ganesh-2.6.11 is the config file for 2.6.11 for
my current workstation, config-kali-2.6.11 is the config for another
workstation here. in the future when i want to compile 2.6.12 for this
box, i'll untar the new kernel source, and copy config-ganesh-2.6.11
to .config in the kernel source root dir. then run "make oldconfig" to
answer only NEW kernel config questions, followed by "make config" if i
need to change any config items, then "make-kpkg --revision ganesh2.6.12
kernel_image modules_image".
> (I got about 12 IBM 335/336 servers, with slightly different hardware
> so I want to minimize the amount of kernel images I have to build).
either make a custom kernel for each one, or just one kernel which
will work for all of them. if they're mostly the same with only a few
differences, i'd do the latter.
> I am guessing that if I use the debian kernel conf as a base and just
> build the vanilla source myself then it will boot just fine on all of
> my machines.
you could do that, but IMO it would be better to start with a blank
config and customise it precisely for your needs. choose only the
drivers you need (either compiled in or as modules), and eliminate the
ones you don't.
oh, and it's a good idea to compile drivers for a bunch of different
COMMON ethernet cards. if your NIC dies, it's convenient to be able to
just rush out to the nearest computer shop and buy whatever they have to
get the machine up and running again quickly.
craig
--
craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au> (part time cyborg)
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