Howto: Debian Linux Kernel Compilation, Part 1

A four part miniseries on compiling a new kernel in a debian-based distro.

The condensed version of this tutorial, all of this is explained in depth in the video:
1.wget recentkernel source from "ftp.kernel.org"
2.extract kernel source in /usr/src "tar jxvf linux-2.6.xx.tar.bz2"
3. grab a patch, if desired.
3a. apply patch "cd /usr/src/li* && bzip2 -dc ../patchdiff.bz2 | patch -p1 --dry-run"
3b. if dry run patch succeeds, repeat process omiting --dry-run
4. copy current kernel config (if you want a decent base, if you want to build vanilla, omit this step) "cp /boot/config-`uname -r` ./.config"
5. "make menuconfig", load your config, and tweak as desired.
6. "make all"
7. "make modules_install"
8. "make install"
9. use mkinitrd.yaird or mkinitramfs, or whatever initrd generator you use to create a initrd for your kernel with "mkinitrd.yaird -o /boot/initrd-2.6.xx 2.6.xx" (where xx is the new kernel version)
10. update your grub config in /boot/grub/menu.list or do "update-grub" as root.
11. reboot into your new system.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• howto
• linux
• kernel
• compile
• debian
• computer
• vmlinuz
• nanosleep
• igneous

[RenegadeFury]

SPEAK UP!

[igneousphantom]

Sorry, I am the owner of a shitty mic. I was practically shouting as it was :P

My suggestion is to just turn the youtube player volume up, luckily that isn't too hard.

[Paddeiii]

@igneousphantom "My suggestion is to just turn the youtube player volume up, luckily that isn't too hard." my laptop is on the maximum volume and i still cant hear you well

[igneousphantom]

@Paddeiii then, if you honestly care to watch the video, download it with something like clive or youtube-dl and watch it with mplayer -softvol -softvol-max 1000. I don't even have the original screencast oggs anymore, so I couldn't re-master this even if I wanted to.

[El1iP3S01D]

igneous, How do i upgrade to Debian Sid from Debian Squeeze? So that when i " sudo cat /etc/debian_version "

it doesn't echo " squeeze/sid "

Can u help me with this issue?

[igneousphantom]

it's pretty simple, edit your sources.list, replace testing (or squeeze, whatever) with unstable, then apt-get update, apt-get dist-upgrade, and you're set. You'll probably see some breakage, but anyone with half a brain should be able to fix it with 10 minutes of googling.

Also: /etc/debian_version is a text file that does nothing, you could edit it to "peanutbutter/jelly" and it shouldn't make a difference.

[calrogman]

I am compiling 2.6.29 right now!

[vishyc88]

you do have a very forceful voice, but very underused, lol.

[ForeverWiked]

10 bucks says I messed it up. I'm making 3.0.3 right now because I had to turn on some thinkpad options(you'd think you could turn it on without re-compiling the damn kernel gosh) but still, this was a learning trip. Thanks a ton

[ladoga]

Here's what I would do:

# apt-get install kernel-package build-essential libncurses5-dev

# cd /usr/src

# wget [path to linux source package]

# tar xjvf linux-[version number].tar.bz2

# cd /usr/src/linux-[version number]

# make menuconfig

# make clean

# make-kpkg --append-to-version -whatever --initrd kernel_image && make-kpkg --append-to-version -whatever --initrd modules_image

# dpkg -i /usr/src/linux-[version number]-whatever.deb

[dnscpan]

nice tutorial ^^

[igneousphantom]

@icekool666 sorry, in order to find this stuff interesting you need to possess intelligence/intellect. Since you seem to lack both of those, I can understand how you could find this boring. Have a good day right back at ya!

[realsifo777]

thanks bro :)

[onelife151]

@doodoobrown1987 what kind of help are you looking for?

[doodoobrown1987]

@leeroyjenkinsii i dont need to purchase one i have about 15 old computers my parents own an isp