Re: Really small kernel

[Jason Martens <me@jasonmartens.com>]

ognjen Bezanov wrote:

> Thanks for all the answers, 
>
> In essence i want to keep the kernel  small so that it boots up as fast
> as possible.
>
> Plus the hardware is a 75mhz laptop with very little ram, i want to save
> as much ram as i can for other programs, hence the need for a small
> kernel.
>
> As far as modules are concerned, i was under the impression that the
> kernel + modules would be bigger (size wise) then having everything
> together in one.
>
> Do using (or not using) modules make a difference to the total size when
> loaded into ram?
>  
I think that if you completely remove the ability to use modules (ie, a 
monolithic kernel), you can save some space with the kernel build.  One 
of the kernel config options is to enable/disable modules. If you 
disable it, you will no longer have the option to compile stuff as a 
module.  It's either in or out.

Jason

> On Mon, 2004-11-08 at 16:21, Martin Theiß wrote:
>  
>
> > Hi ognjen Bezanov, *,
> >
> > ognjen Bezanov wrote:
> >
> >    
> >
> > > Hi all, 
> > >
> > > I want to find a way to find out what things i need to enable for my
> > > laptop to function.
> > >
> > > I want to compile a kernel which only has support for the hardware im
> > > using and no module support
> > >
> > >      
> > Why no modules? Modules only have a slight overhead, when loading. After
> > this they perform like built-in modules.
> >
> >    
> >
> > > Is there any command which will let me view all the hardware on my pc
> > > and what respective setting i need on my .config file?
> > >
> > >      
> > lshw is a good tool to find out, what is in your laptop. also you should
> > consider using lspci. both together should give you a really good overview.
> > the only problem is to "translate" these infos into a .config. i don't know
> > of any tool which is capabale of doing this job.
> > the best way to do, what you want is running the distclean target of the
> > kernel and starting with the allnoconfig target. from this startingpoint you
> > can enable the different settings via menuconfig or similar.
> >
> >    
> >
> > > I want to make the kernel as small as possible
> > >
> > >      
> > Remember, size only matters at boot time (maybe 3-5% faster startup) or when
> > you really don't have much ram available.
> >
> > Kind regards
> > Martin
> >    
>
>
>