On Thu, Feb 19, 2004 at 10:08:04PM -0600, Shawn wrote: > Kernel compiling now with the "make dep" command... Just out of > curiosity, if there's a .config file in the /usr/src/linux directory > anything that is either enabled or loaded as a module will be checked > the next time I recompile the kernel? Or, when I do the "make > mrproper" will that negate those choices? Put your .config file in a cool dry place. make mrproper deletes it, and you can put a lot of effort getting a .config file right. Also, edit the Makefile each time and add an incrementing tag: EXTRAVERSION =-sf1 That helps avoid writing over the top of the last kernel modules installed in /lib/modules/version-xxx and gives you your own version tag. > Also, which is better: A kernel with loadable modules, or a kernel > with as few of modules as possible but kernel subsets enabled for > specific devices? I'm thinking it's the second one, but am unsure. > Thoughts? Or is that still undecided and up for heated debate? Generally, modules are preferable. Any hardware required to mount your root fs can be nice to have compiled in, otherwise you need to use a initrd.img's, like distros generally do. They want to make a generic one size fits all kernel that can boot to any fs. So if you use ext3, ext2 fs, then compile those in too so you aren't forced to use an initrd to boot to them. Probably best to use your distro's config file as a starting point. A goal of mine lately has been to learn to build or tweak an initrd, why you ask? Because you can easily get carried away compiling custom kernels, before you know it you've got many machines, all with different kernel configs, and you've spent too much time compiling kernels. You start thinking, hmmm, those guys making the distro's one size fit all kernels and initrds aren't so stupid. I want a lean mean initrd, nothing that requires gobs of RAM. RedHat has an interesting one, uses dash, compiled with dietlibc, to avoid the huge bloat of /lib/glibc. dietlibc is neat, you compile like this: diet gcc prog.c -o prog And it spits out a nice small prog with no dependencies. One of my pet peaves is the live-cds, boot disks, that all require GOBS of ram(for big initrd's), making them useless on older machines. When knoppixs boots on a 128MB machine and says I don't have enough ram that makes me mad(I know, I can boot without the gui). When I was a kid, we had full length ISA cards and had to press in $1000 worth of 16 pin chips to get a few meg of ram, geez. That was before static electricity was invented(or patended)! Ops, I better shut up or I'll get all the old people on the list talking about ancient hardware... Some grampa's probably gonna describe weaving their own core memories with magnetic donuts(Mmmmm, donuts). What I want is an initrd that is small(fits on a diskette w/kernel) can be adjusted to boot most fs and/or IDE-CDROM, NFS or USB roots and is easy enough to adjust or configure. Anyone seen such a thing? > Thanks for the information everyone. You'd think this P-166 w/128 MB > ram could recompile the kernel faster.... =P > > -- > Shawn > _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list