Re: how are you kids compiling kernels these days?

[Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>]

Hi Paul,

Paul Johnson wrote:

> Now I've got a laptop with an Intel Centrino Ultimate 6300 wireless
> device and it has been very unstable when joining wireless networks. I
> complained about it in the intel wireless support page and today a
> technician answered me back with a kernel patch.
>
> http://bugzilla.intellinuxwireless.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2346
>
> This is a pretty serious request, I'm willing to try, but I wish
> somebody who has done this recently would share the experience.

I know two ways to do it.

One is to build from the official Debian packaging, as described at
<http://kernel-handbook.alioth.debian.org/ch-common-tasks.html>.
That page is pretty thorough, so I'll let it cover that itself.

Another way is to build the kernel from kernel.org, like so:

 0. prerequisites

	apt-get install build-essential ketchup

 1. get the kernel

	mkdir linux
	cd linux
	ketchup 3-rc

 2. configure and test

	cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config; # current configuration

	# optional: disable debugging symbols for a smaller build tree.
	# This is almost always a good choice, unless you use systemtap
	# or you use perf to profile the kernel.
	scripts/config --disable DEBUG_INFO

	# optional: minimize configuration by only including currently
	# loaded modules.  Most modules that are not loaded are drivers
	# for hardware you don't have.  Make sure your wireless driver
	# is loaded if you've unloaded it.
	make localmodconfig

	make deb-pkg; # optionally with -j<num> for parallel build

	dpkg -i ../<name of package>; # as root
	reboot
	... test test test ...

    Hopefully it reproduces the bug.  So:

 3. try the patch

	cd linux
	patch -p1 </path/to/the/patch
	make deb-pkg; # maybe with -j2
	dpkg -i ../<name of package>; # as root
	reboot
	... test test test ...

Thanks for your work, and hope that helps,
Jonathan