patch to kernel

[Nifty Hat Mitch]

On Wed, Dec 22, 2004 at 09:36:09PM -0800, Globe Trotter wrote:
...

> Question: How does one patch to a kernel? I am under the impression
> that i need the src.rpm to do this, but is it at all otherwise
> possible? Also, if I want to recompile after patching, how can I do
> so, given that my kernel is the latest at this point?

I guess the obvious question is "do you know how to use patch"?

For the most part 'patch' makes reference to a tool that operates on
source files.

When building the kernel there are four general classes of objects
involved.  Core objects (.o), archives *.a) device drivers and dynamic
kernel modules (.ko).

Dynamic device drivers and dynamic modules can be built without
building the entire kernel.

Can you be more specific about what you are patching.

In general the kernel begins with a base dir of source.
>From that  base a copy is made and then one by one
patches are applied by the Makefile based on a list
of patches. See ..../scripts/patch-kernel

This script has this comment...
  # It determines the current kernel version from the top-level Makefile.
  # It then looks for patches for the next sublevel in the patch directory.
  # This is applied using "patch -p1 -s" from within the kernel directory.
  # A check is then made for "*.rej" files to see if the patch was
  # successful.  If it is, then all of the "*.orig" files are removed.
  ....
  # ... support for handling multiple types of compression....

The release notes for fc3
   file:///usr/share/doc/HTML/index.html
contain notes on how to build a kernel.
Build a standard  vanilla kernel and watch how patches
are installed, then add your patch.


 
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