Need help on how to uncompess Linux's kernel for good
 

Hi!, i recently upgraded the kernel from kernel -2.6.5-1.349 to kernel -2.6.5-1.351. I am using FC2Test3. Now during reboot, when i selected the latter version in the grub menu, i noticed that it needs to be uncompressed. The message precisely "Uncompressing Linux......" I realized because of this decompression, the time it takes to the desktop becomes longer than usual. The former version which does not need to be uncompressed, of course, boots up much faster. I noticed from the forum that a lot of people experienced problem even booting to linux when that message appeared. Mine, on the other hand, went smoothly after the message.
My question is how can i "uncompress" the kernel for good so the machine does not need to do that everytime it reboots?

sincerely,
yoha

hmm...do you make the choice when you build the kernel? I mean, after compiling a kernel from source and checking it via file command I recall once seeing a text like "compressed kernel image" or something..

I don't know for sure, but my guess would be that this is done when the kernel is built. compressed kernel images are, if I guess right, good if you need to have it in a small disk space like in a floppy or something..altough I could be wrong (so correct if you know better, folks :) heh)

you might want to go to kernel.org and see if there's something for you regarding this. they at least should know ;)

When compiling a kernel from source, it is compressed during the "make (bz)Image" command. For 2.6 kernels, I believe this is integrated into the "make" command (which appears to consist of make dep, make (bz)Image, make modules, and make modules_install), but under 2.4, where you're likely still doing the full sequence of commands it is usually done after make dep but before make modules and make modules_install.

Afaik, b0uncer is correct about the floppy thing, although most current kernels, even compressed, are too big to fit on a standard floppy anymore.

Might this be a Fedora-specific issue, though? At least, I'm using 2.6.5-r1 under Gentoo, as far as I know my kernel is compressed (didn't know I had a choice about it) and I'm not experiencing any issues with GRUB that made me think I had a problem of any sort. I haven't noticed any particular slowdown in booting, and certainly am not failing to boot. Next time I reboot (just for you, I have no need to reboot atm), I'll look at the boot messages to confirm, but afaik our systems are similarly configured in terms of kernel version, kernel compression and bootloader, and the only difference is the distro. If so, then maybe the distro itself is the problem.

Thanks for the responses. Actually i did not compile, make,.........etc. the kernel manually by myself. FC did it automatically on my behalf. Plus, i have tons of space in my hdd(only 10% being used). I dont know why the kernel is by default in compression mode.

sincerely,
yoha

Well, everybody doesn't have tons of space, and so why not compress the kernel, since (under normal circumstances) it works fine that way? Or should we add to the general overhead with a disk check for free space during a kernel install (when actual disk space probably can't be read reliably anyway, due to temp file usage) and if it's under/above a certain amount, skip compression?

That'll be the day :) .