Hi
I never compiled a linux kernel to boot in , I recently downloaded a linux kernel
2.6.20.3 from some site and
issued the following commands
make mrproper
make dep ;make clean;
make menuconfig
make bzImage;
make ;
make install;
thinking that every thing is fine I
booted in to the new kernel and got kernel panic
trying to kill init
some googling showed that I might have choosen a wrong module to compile so this error came
I have these questions
1) How to take back up of old kernel
2) How to uninstall the older modules
3) How to compile during make menuconfig without choosing any option to add a new module I just want to be able to have a new kernel into the system adding modules I want to learn later

You are using old 2.4 kernel compiling commands. Here is info on the commands.
make mrproper - ( Only used if you wish to reset the kernel tree back to default clean base)
make dep and make clean - ( not used anymore. Part of 2.4 kernel building but was in the wrong order if that is way the sequence you did use.)
make menuconfig - ( A text based menu editor )
make xconfig - ( A gui based menu editor )
make gconfig - ( Another gui based menu editor )
make bzimage - ( Used in 2.4 kernels to build the kernel image )
make - ( Used in 2.6 kernels to build kernel image and modules )
make install - ( To install new kernel to /boot, setup lilo or grub boot manager, create initrd file in /boot, and copy system.map which is a map for modules the kernel knows about.)
make modules - ( Used in 2.4 kernels to build modules )
make modules_install ( Used to install built modules to /lib/modules/`uname -r` )

So the steps for 2.6 kernel
make xconfig
make
make modules_install
make install

For old 2.4 kernel building steps.
make xconfig
make dep
make clean
make
make modules
make modules_install
make install

Note when you get done with editing the kernel config file make sure you save it before exiting.

I see Fedora mention in your sig. If in Fedora then you can get a fairly close version of the config file from /boot.

Brian

There's a how-to for Fedora here.

On a side note, the current FC6 kernel is based on the 2.6.20.3 kernel, so I'm not sure what you are trying to get. In any case, you want the Fedora kernel source, not "a Linux kernel from some site", or you will be backing out many fixes added to the Fedora kernel.

I was not able to understand regarding the Syste.map file that was given in some tutorials on net I did not touched the System.map file


how to save and make back up