David Baron:
>
> Since I am compiling it anyway, why not compile the modules that I need and
> leave the others. A lot quicker and less disk space eaten up for stuff not
> used!
A good idea.
> How do I know what to change from "m" to "no"? If it does not appear on lsmod?
It depends. For hardware modules, this may be a good indication. Attach
all your hardware (including all those USB, PCMCIA, Bluetooth, whatever)
devices and compile the modules that get automatically loaded (we're
talking about 2.6, aren't we?). Additionally, checking lspci's output
may be a good idea and be sure to statically compile in the drivers for
your IDE controller and your filesystems. That way you don't have to
fiddle around with initrds (I always found them to be a pain, but that
might have changed).
As for other modules (networking stuff, local and remote filesystems,
ACPI and whatelse), the best thing is to take some time to actually read
through the help texts that are offered. Many times they say something
along the lines of "if unsure, say Yes|No" or "most people should say
$foo here". This might take one or two hours but after that a) you have
more knowledge and b) you will never need to do that again. And your
kernel will compile significantly faster.
Some people even choose to compile almost everything statically, but
that is purely a matter of taste (as long as you don't build high
security servers which shall not be able to load modules at runtime at
all).
BTW, I found it easier to start with a vanilla kernel config (from
kernel.org) since they don't include as much as the Debian kernels by
default. It may be easier to miss essential modules in the first try,
though. As always when compiling a new kernel: make sure you have a
known-good kernel available from your bootloader. This may save you a
lot of trouble and dealing with rescue disks, chroots and such.
J.
--
I enjoy shopping, eating, sex and doing jigsaw puzzles of idealised
landscapes.
[Agree] [Disagree]
<http://www.slowlydownward.com/NODATA/data_enter2.html>
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