Sorry folks - I guess I've made a right "dogs dinner" of this whole thread... I'll make more efforts not to be "that noob" next time :-)
But I've got the information I needed about how to build old gentoo-sources kernels. So thanks! I've done my tests and the outcome is: 3.8.8 (gentoo-sources - manually built) = NO nfs suspend issue 3.8.9 (gentoo-sources - manually built - nfs specific patches, removed from 1008_linux-3.18.9.patch) = NO nfs suspend issue 3.8.9 (gentoo-sources, stock) = boot hangs with pNFS block error 3.8.10 (gentoo-sources, stock) = nfs suspend issue Anyway that's pretty much what the ML thread was kicked off to achieve - so thanks all! Plus I've written a little script for ordered patch application - so that might come in useful at some point :-) Just wondering in passing what the motivation is for kernel eclass dropping support for automated building of, what many would consider, very recent kernel revisions? Could support not be retained (for renaming kernel versions to build older revisions) - but say masking off these versions as not security patched / maintained? Personally I was quite surprised I couldn't just rename the stock gentoo-sources ebuild to say gentoo-sources-3.18.8.ebuild to pull that kernel revision with automated patching... But perhaps I'm just showing my inexperience / naivety in this matter? -- All the best & thanks, Robert