[howto] Compile 2.6.31 Kernel in Slackware 13.0

Posted 09-16-2009 at 07:18 AM by ~sHyLoCk~
Updated 09-19-2009 at 09:03 AM by ~sHyLoCk~

This is the way I did it, and hopefully should work for you as well.

Open terminal and login as root [or if you'd prefer, use sudo in every step.]

Code:

 # cd /usr/src

    # wget ‘http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.31.tar.bz2′

    # tar xvfj linux-2.6.31.tar.bz2

After it’s extracted remove the previous symlink.

Code:

 # rm -rf linux

    # ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.31 /usr/src/linux

Now your linux directory points to your newly extracted kernel tree source. If you want you can configure using your personal config, or I have uploaded my config which I will use in this guide. So you may skip next step of wgetting it.

Code:

# cd /usr/src/linux && wget ‘http://www.sigmirror.com/files/31573_su3ht/.config’

    # make menuconfig

Now scroll all the way down and select load kernel configuration and press enter to select the .config.

Code:

    # make

This will take a while, meanwhile open another tab and configure lilo.

Code:

 # nano /etc/lilo.conf

Scroll all the way down and copy the existing linux entry. Just change the part which says /boot/vmlinuz to /boot/bzImage and then add another line just below it called initrd. Here’s my entry:

Code:

image = /boot/bzImage
    initrd = /boot/initrd.gz
    root= /dev/hda4
    label = Linux
    read-only

Remember to replace /dev/hda4 with your own root partition. Yes yes, I know we haven’t created an initrd image yet. Patience! Just save and exit for now.

Now that make is over run:

Code:

# make modules_install

    # cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage

    # cp System.map /boot/System.map.new

    # rm /boot/System.map

    # ln -s /boot/System.map.new /boot/System.map

You may copy over the config file to /boot but I see now use for that and hence I skipped it. Hey as long as it works, eh?

Anyways, now for the next step, you are own your own since it depends on what partition type you are using. I use ext4 throughout and have no separate partition for /boot and hence this is how I generated my initrd image. Please refer to /boot/README.initrd file for details!

Code:

 # mkinitrd -c -k 2.6.31-pdg -m ext4 -f ext4 -r /dev/hda4

    # cd /etc/rc.d

    # rm rc.modules

    # cp rc.modules-2.6.29.6-smp rc.modules-2.6.31-pdg

    # ln -s /etc/rc.d/rc.modules-2.6.31-pdg /etc/rc.d/rc.modules

    # lilo

If you get a warning about LBA32 just add “lba32″ in your lilo.conf and re-run lilo. And now reboot into your new kernel!

Good Luck

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Comments

question about removing and re-linking /etc/rc.modules

Very good tutorial. Two questions though:
1. At the end you recommend doing:

Code:

 # cd /etc/rc.d
    # rm rc.modules
    # cp rc.modules-2.6.29.6-smp rc.modules-2.6.31-pdg
    # ln -s /etc/rc.d/rc.modules-2.6.31-pdg /etc/rc.d/rc.modules

Is this necessary? I assume this is done to assure that the modules for the new kernel are loaded instead of the modules for the default 2.6.29-smp kernel. The reason I ask about this is because Alien Bob's guide does not mention doing this:
http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/...rnelbuilding&s[]=compile&s[]=kernel

2. Also, is the process the same if you are compiling a kernel on 64 bit Slackware?

Posted 10-16-2009 at 06:24 AM by tommcd tommcd is offline

I just created a new symlink for the new kernel modules, that's step is not really necessary as I'm using the older rc.modules itself.

I compiled a 32bit kernel, so for a 64bit kernel, you must use your own config, you can use one from the existing kernel .config in your /usr/src/linux directory. The rest of the process is same, just instead of copying the bzImage from i386, you should do it from x86.
cp arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot/bzImage

Atleast that's what I know since I don't really use a 64bit system, even though I have a core2 cpu, I like 32bit.
Hope this helps you.

Posted 10-23-2009 at 08:37 PM by ~sHyLoCk~ ~sHyLoCk~ is offline