Safe to compile/install 2.6.6 kernel on Sarge? + options

[James Buchanan <buchanan@iinet.net.au>]

Should it be possible to safely compile and install a 2.6.6 kernel on 
Sarge with a 2.6.3 kernel running?  The options for this kernel are a 
little confusing.  I know there is a native ATA/ATAPI driver now so 
that ide-scsi is no longer needed (but will removing generic SCSI 
support render cdrecord & co. useless?)

I'll backup the various bits in /boot and keep the old entries in 
grub's menu.lst, and what about the modules?  Before I go ahead and 
compile and install, if it's generally safe to do so, will 
the /lib/modules/modprobe.conf need to be backed up?  It seems to be 
global, so that it's applicable regardless of kernel version.  Maybe 
it doesn't really change from version to version... do I need to make 
sure of certain configuration items in there depending on which 
kernel version I have?

Thanks very much.
:)