Randy Patterson wrote : > On Thursday 30 April 2009 09:51:54 Michael Pobega wrote: >> On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 09:24:43AM -0500, Randy Patterson wrote: >>> I'm looking to start using my own custom kernels for various reasons. At >>> this point I'm just researching the various options or ways in going >>> about this and in the process installed kernel-package. I learned the >>> hard way a couple years ago when I first started using Linux that before >>> diving into documentation I first need to try to determine it's age. So >>> after installing kernel-package the first thing I did was go to the >>> bottom of the man page and looked at the date, May 25, 1999! Now I >>> realize that is not necessarily the date of the last update but this >>> doesn't give me a good feeling about diving into it's details that could >>> be 10 years old. So is it better to just use an upstream source from >>> kernel.org and build that or will that only create more work trying to >>> get that running with a current Debian distro? I'm certainly not looking >>> for a detailed howto on this list, but looking for advise on the road to >>> take to get there. Or at least the road with more pros than cons. Thanks, >>> Randy >> Just fyi, kernel-package isn't a kernel itself; it's the tools used to >> build a vanilla kernel (like the ones from kernel.org) into a deb file. >> > > I guess I assumed that kernel-package was to build the kernel from the source > used by the current Debian distro installed. So if that's not the case and I > decided to use the latest stable from kernel.org, is it advantageous to use > kernel-package or find a good howto and learn to build and install using a > more > low level approach. I'm mainly looking at just optimizing the config file for > a > particular systems to building a leaner meaner kernel. I have some older > systems that don't do anything but grid computing. I thought if I removed a > lot of the stuff that wasn't being used in the kernel I could speed these up > a > little. > > Randy > > Kernel-package really speeds up the process of building a kernel, but the bulk of what you want to do will occur during the configuration. Basically kernel-package allows you to build a kernel, all modules, an initrd (if desired), pack it up in .deb in one shot. Then you just have to install the created .deb with "dpkg -i". The basic command, once the configuration is done, is:
make-kpkg --initrd --append-to-version -custom_name --revision 1 \ kernel-image kernel-headers initrd and headers are non-essential. Installing the created .deb will take care of all the linking (/initrd, /vmlinuz, build dir...), boot-loader update (with grub at least), initrd creation/update and such. Without it you'll have to go with the "make - make modules_install - make install" routine, no such thing as a .deb, and take care of the rest yourself (initrd, links, boot-loader update...). So in my opinion it's worth looking into kernel-package, that's one of the feature I most appreciated when trying to Debian. (I usually build my kernels from vanilla kernel.org sources, out of habit and curiosity more than technical need.). Tom -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
