Re: Why Debian default kernel is bzImage ?

[sen_ml@eccosys.com]

hi-

  did you get any responses to your question?

At around Wed, 12 Aug 1998 05:42:30 +0200,
 "Robert J. Alexander" <rja@raleigh.ibm.com> may have mentioned:

> Every time I pick up a new Debian drop from scratch (ie use the install
> disks), I have to find the special "tecra" disks since on all portables
> I have installed Debian on, the standard disks, being bzImage do not
> boot.

i have a thinkpad for which even the tecra disks don't seem to work --
i have created a custom rescue disk (w/ a lot of help from this list)
that works.  i too would like to not have to go to this trouble.

> I also have to take care since after the base install, the standard
> kernel-image files which are usually preselected by dselect, would
> render my system unbootable again.

yup, me too.

> At the end of the base install, I must install the compiler, ther kernel
> sources and run a make-kpkg --zimage --revision mymachine.1 kernel_image
> and install the resulting package prior to the first reboot.

i do something similar -- though i put:

kimage := zImage

in /etc/kernel-pkg.conf (though i have to remember to do this for each
installation).

> All of this would not be necessary if Debian's kernel format was zImage.
>
> Why isn't this desirable ? In most contributions to this list, when it
> comes to kernel compiling I very often see make zimage or make-kpkg
> --zimage crop up ...

<may be totally wrong>
i have this vague recollection of reading that a patch was submitted
(to what i don't remember -- it might have been the kernel) to address
this problem and that it hadn't been incorporated yet.

if that is the case, then the tecra disks may be seen as a temporary
measure for a problem which may go away w/ time.
</may be totally wrong>

-sen