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Debian-Kernel-Compile-Howto
(Kernel 2.4)
Version 1.0
Author: Falko Timme <ft [at] falkotimme [dot] com>
Last edited 12/06/2003
In some cases you
might want to compile your own kernel that suits your needs better than the
standard kernel that comes with your distribution. I will describe how to do
this on a Debian machine.
Be aware that there
is some risk in doing so! For example, it could happen that your machine does
not boot properly after you have installed the new kernel so you might be forced
to boot from a rescue CD to repair your system. You have been warned! This document
comes without warranty of any kind!
Kernel-Compile-Howto
First login to
your Debian machine on the command line as root. Install the prerequisites that
we need to compile the new kernel:
apt-get install kernel-package
ncurses-dev fakeroot wget bzip2
Then go to /usr/src:
cd /usr/src
Then get the latest
Linux kernel source (or the kernel source you need) from http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/:
wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/linux-2.4.23.tar.bz2
Unpack the kernel
sources:
tar xjf linux-2.4.23.tar.bz2
cd linux-2.4.23/
It is normally
a good idea to take the configuration of your existing (working!) kernel as
a starting point for the configuration of your new kernel. Usually the current
kernel configuration is saved in a file under /boot,
e.g. /boot/config-2.4.18-bf2.4.
We will load this configuration and then do the changes we desire (e.g. add
quota support, iptables support, etc.).
make menuconfig
Select Load
an Alternate Configuration File and enter the location of the configuration
file of your current kernel:


The configuration
of your current kernel will be loaded, and you can now browse through the menu
and change the configuration to suit your needs. When you are finished, save
your new kernel configuration:

Then run the following
commands:
make dep
make-kpkg clean
fakeroot make-kpkg --revision=custom.1.0 kernel_image
If the compilation
stops with an error, run
make
clean
and then re-run
the previous commands starting with
make menuconfig
Change the kernel
configuration where the error occurs (e.g., the compilation often gives back
errors for some WAN modules, so leave them out if you do not need them). If
no error occurs you will find the new kernel as a Debian package called kernel-image-2.4.23_custom.1.0_i386.deb
under /usr/src.
cd ../
Now you can install
the new kernel by doing the following:
dpkg -i kernel-image-2.4.23_custom.1.0_i386.deb
We are almost finished
now. Run
lilo
to update your
boot loader and reboot your machine:
shutdown -r now
and if everything
is ok your machine should come up with the new kernel. You can run
uname -a
to verify that.
Good luck!
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