make-kpkg, stock kernel, and alsa

[Kent West <westk@acu.edu>]

I've compiled a kernel or few, but mostly just stumbled through the process.

Question 1:
--------
Currently I'm running a stock 2.4.20-k7 kernel (apt-get install 
kernel-image-2.4.20-k7). My sound card is not supported yet by the 
kernel drivers, so I have to fall back to using alsa, which does support 
the card.

Near as I can tell, there are no binary alsa drivers; I have to download 
the source and compile. However, apparently I can't compile the alsa 
modules without having the full kernel source for my running kernel. Can 
anyone confirm or deny this? It seems a bit crazy that I can't run alsa 
modules with a stock kernel, forcing me to roll my own kernel. Perhaps 
there's a good reason for that? Or am I misunderstanding?

When I downloaded the alsa-source, it put a tar.bz2 file in /usr/src. I 
bunzip2'ed it and untarred it, which put the "alsa-driver" directory in 
/usr/src/modules. I also downloaded the kernel-headers. Then run I run 
cd into /usr/src/linux and "make-kpkg modules", it seems to think I'm 
compiling a kernel instead of just the modules against the headers. But 
as I say, I'm just stumbling through, so am probably expecting too much 
or am doing the wrong thing(s).


Question 2:
--------
Closely related, last time I faced a situation like this, I downloaded 
the kernel source for the same version of stock kernel I was running and 
copied the "config-[kernelverson]" file to /usr/src/linux/.config, and 
then compiled, expecting to get almost the exact same kernel I started 
with. However, it wasn't nearly the same (I don't remember the details 
now). I know this is vague information, but does anyone have an 
explanation for that?

Thanks!

Kent