compiling kernel 2.6.7

[Doru-Catalin Togea]

On Tue, 3 Aug 2004, jeem machine wrote:

> > >> Can someone tell me wich are the steps to compille sucessfuly a kernel
> > >> from source till installation ?
> > >> im trying to compille 2.6.7 to my machine

I think this might be the "main" linux guid to (re)building kernels:

	http://www.digitalhermit.com/linux/Kernel-Build-HOWTO.html

I have used it myself to build a 2.6.7 kernel. Once you understand the
process, it is not so difficult, but it might require several readings.

What I consider the most difficult step is to configure the kernel-build.
There are tools for this, but there are hundreds of options, maybe
thousands, so it is a daunting undertake, especially if you migrate from a
2.4 kernel to a 2.6 one. Of course it can be done.

However, what I did was to first have a fresh install of FC2. This gave me
the 2.6.5 kernel, which I would have been very happy with, if I had not
had some special requirements for my webcam. But by succesfully installing
FC2 I got a configuration file for kernel-builds which is very tailored to
my PC's hardware, because under installation you get to specify "all?"
your hardware.

In short I did the following:

1) got the kernel sources for 2.6.7
2) I patched the sources for my special purposes (you skip this if you do
not need anything special)
3) I configured the kernel-build, and here is the trick: under
configuration I loaded into the configuration application the file
generated by the regular FC2 installation for the 2.6.5 kernel. Here I had
to make only minor adjustments, which all had to do with my special webcam
requirements. If you don't have any such special requirements, I believe
that you can just use the file as it is, and it will cause you to end up
with a 2.6.7 kernel, configured for your hardware just as the regular
2.6.5 kernel was. The file I used was:

	/usr/src/linux-2.6.5-1.358/configs/kernel-2.6.5-i686.config

4) follow the rest of the makes sequance as explained in the guide. In one
hour or so, you will hopefully have a new working kernel.

In my opinion, there is a mistake in the above mentioned guide (which is
otherwise excellent), in the "Installation" section. I think it is a
cut-and-paste mistake. I have notified the author, but it seems to have
remained uncorrected so far.

Anyways, here is a diary of my adventure:

	http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~doru-cat/hfag/webcamLatitudeD800.html

I think the relevant section for you would be "Building the Philips webcam
driver for the 2.6.7 kernel". There is a step by step recepie there,
which, as you will see, only follows the instructions in the above
mentioned guide. You will have to ignore the steps about patching the
Philips driver, or if you want to make your own patches to the kernel
sources, you will have to do those instead.

Hope this helps and good luck :)

Catalin


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