Re: Compiling a kernel

["Damon L. Chesser" <damon@damtek.com>]

cothrige wrote:
> * Tim Post (tim.post@netkinetics.net) wrote:
>   
> > depmod should be called by the makefile upon make modules_install after
> > a successful build. Its really as easy as make, make modules_install ,
> > make install and a mkinitrd (if you need one). 
> >
> > If using GRUB, remember by default the selection menu is hidden. You'll
> > need to comment out the "hiddenmenu" line, and of course turn on pretty
> > colors.
> >     
>
> Okay, a touch of confusion on this.  I am unfamiliar with grub, only
> having started using it with this install of Debian and that having
> been setup by the Debian installer.  Right now the menu is not hidden,
> but are you saying that a 'make install' of the kernel will add
> hiddenmenu to my configuration?  BTW, I have never used make install,
> kinda scary I suppose, and so don't know much about it.  Probably
> won't use it now either, unless it is highly recommended.
>
>   
> > /etc/modules is a newline delimited list of modules that are loaded at
> > boot time.
> >     
>
> What is the difference between this and the modprobe.d files?  I
> notice that my system has both (alsa, nvidia and such in modprobe.d
> and loop is all that is in modules).  The man pages didn't seem to
> clarify why both are needed.
>
>   
> > You can further tweak how modules are loaded by modifying your initrd
> > directly.
> >     
> [snip]
>
> I have never used initrd, at least not when I have compiled a kernel.
> To be entirely honest I have never fully understood just what it
> does.  I was under the impression it was for things like booting from
> reiser fs and having to load modules to do it.  However, that always
> made me wonder why a person would just not compile in the reiser
> support, and so I have naturally assumed that I was dead wrong on why
> it existed and what it accomplished.  But, since I have never seemed
> to need it, i.e. my system has always booted fairly predictably
> without it, I never tried to learn more.
>
>   
> > Kernel hacking is quite a bit easier on GNU distributions (like Debian)
> > once you get used to the differences from whitebox / gentoo. Not saying
> > its not fun on those flavors, I just happen to really prefer GNU.
> >     
>
> I am going to open my mouth and prove my total ignorance, as I have
> never even approached any kernel hacking.  But, what is a 'whitebox'
> and how is it different from GNU?  I would have thought that Gentoo
> was a GNU distro.
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Patrick
>
>
>   
Patrick,

Not just reiserfs but say if your hard drive type was a modual (ide, 
sata, etc).  Yes it is cleaner perhaps to hard code it in, but on the 
other hand, if you miss one item in the chain, you get kernel panic.  I 
would suggest you install kernel-package and read the README in 
/usr/share/doc/kernel-package .  It has a rather complete  walk through 
on how to do it the debian way, including the initrd.  

Make-kpkg will in fact make all the moduals, add them, and the kernel 
and make a .deb you then use dpkg -i kernelname.deb  to install, and 
that will modify grub for you (or lilo I suspose).  Comes in real handy 
if you have more then one box with the same hardware, just transfer the 
.deb and install it.  Plus now your system knows it is installed and if 
you use the make-kpgk --append-to=customename_or_number_here then apt 
will not replace your kernel (unless you happen to name it something 
that matches a apt-getable kernel.  Real nice.

I hope that helps.

--
Damon L. Chesser
damon@damtek.com
damon@okfairtax.org