Re: Upgrading kernel of the same tree

[David Wright <d.wright@open.ac.uk>]

Quoting Arcady Genkin (genkin@sympatico.ca):
> I have been using every 2.2.x kernel as soon as they came out. To
> fascilitate configuration I saved configuration into an "alternative
> file" in my home directory from 'menuconfig'. Then, when I get source
> from the new kernel, I would simply load that file into menuconfig.
> 
> Is this a safe thing to do for kernels of the same tree? If there are
> any new features in the configuration of the next kernel, how would
> such practice affect it?

Exactly. From the README in the kernel source:

 - Do a "make config" to configure the basic kernel.  "make config" needs
   bash to work: it will search for bash in $BASH, /bin/bash and /bin/sh
   (in that order), so one of those must be correct for it to work.

   Do not skip this step even if you are only upgrading one minor
   version.  New configuration options are added in each release, and
   odd problems will turn up if the configuration files are not set up
   as expected.  If you want to carry your existing configuration to a
   new version with minimal work, use "make oldconfig", which will
   only ask you for the answers to new questions.
  
 - Alternate configuration commands are:
        "make menuconfig"  Text based color menus, radiolists & dialogs.
        "make xconfig"     X windows based configuration tool.
        "make oldconfig"   Default all questions based on the contents of
                           your existing ./.config file.

> It's simply a drag going through all the options each time... :-/

So they thought of you!

Cheers,

-- 
Email:  d.wright@open.ac.uk   Tel: +44 1908 653 739  Fax: +44 1908 655 151
Snail:  David Wright, Earth Science Dept., Milton Keynes, England, MK7 6AA
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