Warning

Downloading the kernel source code,uncompressing it, configuring the kernel, and building it—should be done as a normal user on the machine. Only the two or three commands it takes to install a new kernel should be done as the superuser (root)

Do not do any kernel development under the /usr/src/ directory tree at all, but only in a local user directory where nothing bad can happen to the system.

Tools to Build the Kernel

Compiler; Linker; make.

Tools to Use the Kernel

util-linux

module-init-tools

Filesystem-Specific Tools

JFS

ReiserFS

xfs

quotas

nfs

udev

proccess tools

pcmcia tools

Downloading the latest stable version of the Linux kernel 2.6.28.7

enter:

$ wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.28.7.tar.gz

Creat a local directory in your home directory called linux to hold all of the different kernel source files:

$ mkdir ~/linux

Now move the source code into this directory:

$ mv ~/linux-2.6.28.7.tar.gz ~/linux/

And go into the linux directory:

$ cd ~/linux

$ ls

linux-2.6.28.7.tar.gz

Now that the source code is in the proper directory, uncompress the tree:

$ tar -xzvf linux-2.6.28.7.tar.gz

The screen will be filled with files that are uncompressed, and you will be left with the following in the linux directory:

$ ls

linux-2.6.28.7.tar.gz
linux-2.6.28.7

Configuring and Building

The most basic method of configuring a kernel is the make config method:

$ cd linux-2.6.28.7
$ make config


To create the default configuration, do the following:

$ make defconfig

Console Configuration Method

The menuconfig way of configuring a kernel is a console-based program that offers a way to move around the kernel configuration using the arrow keys on the keyboard.

To start up this configuration mode, enter:

$ make menuconfig

You will be shown a screen much like this


Graphical Configuration Methods

The gconfig and xconfig methods of configuring a kernel use a graphical program to allow you to modify the kernel configuration.

$ make gconfig

or

$ make xconfig

Use the mouse to navigate the submenus and select options


Next ...Modifying the configuration