Hello

I have downloaded and configured my own kernel which is 2.6.20.4. I would like to know how could I install the Linux headers It's needed to configure correctly the wireless network card ipw3945...

I am actually trying to install ieee80211 but module assistant doesn't install them due to a problem with kernel-dirs. I have the sources I downloaded from kernel.org at my home directory : $HOME/kernel/linux.
installing ieee80211 from source gives much more errors. does debian install the Linux-headers when you compile a new kernel... if not how to do it?
doesn't seem to do the trick. how to tell where are the headers and tell ieee80211 or m-a?
i hope i made myself clear.
Mario

When you've compiled a kernel from source you automatically have the headers installed. What's the contents of your /usr/src directory? Check if /usr/src/linux brings you to the 2.6.20.4 directory. If not, create the sym-linkRemove any other links to /usr/src/linux beforehand!

First, you really shouldn't replace things in /usr/include/linux. If you do, you risk breaking things that link against the old headers. This includes things like glibc, which is sort of important. And don't ever change or create the /usr/src/linux symlink to point to the new kernel source. It hasn't been done that way for close to a decade. Just do what you did and compile the kernel in $HOME without a symlink in sight.

For years it was common practice to use “raw” kernel headers (straight from a kernel tarball) in /usr/include, but over the last few years, the kernel developers have taken a strong stance that this should not be done. This gave birth to the Linux-Libc-Headers Project, which was designed to maintain an API stable version of the Linux headers. I think it's been awhile since they produced a set of headers.

You should get the headers from Debian. In fact, you should probably use the kernel source provided by Debian rather than vanilla source. Either that or apply the Debian patches.

I thought m-a prepare does this?

the issue is the following.. when I compiled the kernel i did;
fakeroot make-kpkg --append-to-version mglaptop --revision 2 kernel-image

then I did dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.20.4mglaptop_2_i386.deb

now when I try to look for kernel headers with m-a per instance it's looking for linux-headers-2.6.20.4mglaptop which doesn't exist.
/usr/src/linux is symlinked with linux-headers-2.6.20.4mglaptop

then that's why i get "No such file or Directory".

there must be a way to build a custom linux-headers to suit my custom kernel compilation.

thank you

I usually run
fakeroot make-kpkg --initrd kernel_image kernel_headers

notice the kernel_headers at the end.

You can try (based on yours)

fakeroot make-kpkg --append-to-version mglaptop --revision 2 kernel-headers