Hello all !

i am learning how to compile /install a new kernel from scratch. i have a few questions about the hole process after reading some tutorials and howtos here and in other forums.

atm i am running 2.6.3-4mdk <-- output of uname -a

i remember having down loaded the scource for this and kernel 2.6.3-9mdk wich reside in /usr/src/ and have a link between linux and 2.6.3-9mdk. im pretty sure i got 9mdk wile doing update to my system thru urpmi.

well today i decided to learn a few things about make menuconfig. to my surprise when menuconfig apeared most of the configuration was there, modules already chossen and what not. im guessing this is cause i did not do make mrproper. now my questions is is this a valid config ? of is it going to make my kernel pretty big and making it not so fast? where did that configuration came from ? with kernel ? or did mandrake take my old config file and cp it to the new kernel directory ?

I understand that it's going to take me a few day / recompile till i know what to include under the options on menuconfig. my question is are there any options that are a must ? i know for a fact that filesystem options are a must just like choosing your cpu type etc.

when it comes to modules does it hurt to have modules of sftware that you dont have. for example when i looked at my menuconfig under sound /pci support i notice and pretty much all the drivers were loaded as modules. im guessing that the kernel will chose only the module of the sound card you have and discard the other ? same with video cards etc ( please correct me if im wrong.

one last question on geento forums i read a few threads about kernel compiles and was told to build filesystem suport into the kernel opposed to modules yet when i saw my config it had them loaded as modules. what are your toughts about this ? does it differ from distro to distro ?

do you recomend building sound /alsa sound driver oss into kernel or leaving them as modules?

thanks very much in advance.

bkup the .config
make mrproper
cp back the .config
make menuconfig

and you'll have a valid .config



the size of the kernel is not a big factor, despite popular belief. It helps, but you'll have to remove a great deal for any real difference and even then you won't really notice much if at all. The main reason to remove unnecessary junk is for stability (they say).

It's suppose to be the config used with the kernel as if you installed the kernel of the same version from mdk. It almost always is.

Yes the kernel is only going to load the necessary modules. That's the trick. Removing all the unnecessary junk and only having in the kernel what you need. Took me a good 20-30 tries to get a 600kb kernel, which wouldn't be possible for me now that the kernel is so big. I could probably get a 900kb though, maybe.

Sometimes making filesystems Y instead of M has cause me problems. I leave them as modiules and yes, even for the root fs. The kernel knows what's up. I had reiserfs as a module and reiserfs as /. I think the issue is if you have a /boot partition but that shouldn't be reiserfs anyway.. I don't have a /boot partition and never have, well once but it was a nighmare.

Sound? always as modules.

For filesystems, theres always an argument, in the kernel or as modules.

My personal preference is to compile them in and in my case i have never had a problem.

When you compile them as modules, you need to make an initrd which takes a few more steps