non-devfs/non-initrd kernel

["Michael D. Norwick" <mnorwick@centurytel.net>]

I've been away from Debian for a couple of years and recently installed
the current
Debian 'Stable' from the NetInst (very nice, painless install, thank
you).  I am trying
to compile a minimalist 2.6 based kernel but cannot seem to get it to
go.  I am using
Debian source package 2.6.8 and the make-kpkg tool.  I want a kernel
without initrd
and devfs, yet while the packages compile without error, they refuse to
boot.
Grub burps with either 'error file not found' or changing the grub
'root=' directive
it starts to load modules then panics about the time pivot_root comes
into play.
I've googled, doc'd and faq'd for four days now and cannot seem to find
the proper
Debian method for making/installing a non-initrd kernel and although I
have the udev
packages installed my most recent attempt (and success) with make-kpkg
--initrd,
it still brings devfs.
I know 'if it works don't screw with it' but I've got a philosophical
difficulty with devfs
from years ago now magnified by the fact that devfs is deprecated in 2.6
kernels and
Gooch is missing in action.  Any kind advice would be greatly appreciated.

Michael