Re: Kernel modification environment
On 2010-01-21 at 20:10:49 -0500, Praseen Preman wrote:
> I currently have Ubuntu 8.04 LTS-Hardy running on my
> machine. I am learning about linux device drivers and hence I have to
> compile and run the kernel after modifications, also I have to insert my own
> custom built modules. Please suggest how to create an environment that does
> not mess up with existing running setup, when I compile and boot into my
> custom built kernel.The issue here probably is that for all my custom
> compiled kernels and the currently stable kernel, the filesystem is the same
> and as a result when the custom kernel boots up, it probably screws up my
> driver nodes in the /dev directory. I would like to keep the filesystem for
> the custom compiled kernels seperate from the stable kernel installed from
> the CD. Please suggest, how to proceed.
>
> Thanks and Regards,
> Praseen
>
> PS: I have already lost my current stable installation of the kernel after I
> booted into my custom compiled kernel :(
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but I must start with the disclaimer that
this forum provides user-to-user assistance for Debian, not Ubuntu. While
Ubuntu is Debian-based, it is not Debian. I have no experience with Ubuntu
proper, and advice that I may give based on my Debian experience may not work
with Ubuntu. As always, use at your own risk.
Second, I'm not sure what you mean by "the filesystem is the same". Do you
mean that the custom kernels and the stock kernel are sharing each other's
modules (i.e. /lib/modules/...) and are therefore interfering with each other?
That I can understand and recommend a fix for, at least under Debian.
But from your description, it doesn't sound like it. You seem to be
concerned that the device nodes in /dev are getting messed up somehow.
In modern kernels, most of the device nodes are created dynamically by udev
anyway. I guess I'm really not sure what you're asking. You can control,
in the boot loader (lilo, grub, etc.) what partition, or more rigorously,
what file system residing on a partition, gets mounted as /, but that may
not be what you're asking either. For a general tutorial on building
custom kernels in Debian, I can point you to
http://www.wowway.com/~zlinuxman/Kernel.htm.
How well that will adapt to Ubuntu, I don't know.
I really wish I understood your question better.
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