Just wondering...

[SoulSe]

I am very bad with compiling... well... anything, so this is probably a stupid question.

 

But lets say I want to upgrade my kernel in the quickest and easiest way. Would it work if I downloaded the new source, then copied the config file from my own kernel into the new source's directory and then make it?

 

Obviously, if there have been any big changes to the flags, etc. then you will have a problem, but would it work?

 

And then, the best way to backup your kernel? Would it perhaps involve just backing up the config file and source?

 

These are pretty n00b questions, but I have only ever recompiled the standard way and haven't experimented much.

[qnr]

You could try using "make oldconfig"

 

That will try to set the new kernel up just like your current one, but will prompt you when it comes to new kernel features.

 

The problem with this is that the Mandrake kernels are pretty heavily patched, and if you just downloaded a new kernel, it may or may not include what Mandrake has put in, and will cause the make oldconfig process to hiccough

 

 

And you don't want to copy the config to the new sources directory. make mrproper will delete it. you want to save it somewhere else, say your home directory, and then load it from inside make menuconfig, or make xconfig

[bvc]

I've always copied .config from a bkup dir after mrproper without any probs. Well except once but it was ML8.1's default kernel to a 2.5 :shock: :P ...doesn't hurt to try :lol:

 

If you are changing the kernel source AND the installed for the current kernel and the new are by rpm AND no special patching for kernel specific stuff has taking place, then you can always restore the old by rpm. If you have special patching for kernel specific stuff in your current then you'd need to tar up the current souce tree so that if you decide to return to the old you won't have to re-patch etc....Tarring up the current source (If needed) and not doing 'make install' is all you need for bkup.