Sorry for the newbie question, but is the standard configuration for debian's kernel (ie. with everything modulized already) stored anywhere at installation? I installed debian, told it what modules to use, and everything's working great. I'd like to compile and install a newer kernel (2.4.20) with *very few* changes to the current setup. Unfortunately, when I run menuconfig, it would appear that the kernel source I got from apt is not configured. I'd really like to stick with the "if it's not broke, don't fix it" approach, and use the "current" config if possible, but don't know where i can find it.

I don't know of a way to get the installation kernel configuration. But the upside is that since the kernel that debian uses for installation is made to run on many different machines, the kernel that you configure and compile will run faster. Don't worry about screwing up the new kernel either. You can always use the old one if anything goes wrong. If you use make-kpkg to compile, package, and install the new kernel, the old one will be moved, but still accessible by LILO.

First run

# make menuconfig (or xconfig)

configure your spiffy new kernel with all the bells and whistles. Then run

# make-kpkg kernel-image

That will compile and put the new kernel in a deb package in /usr/src. Just install the package with

# dpkg -i kernel-image-blah.blah-foo.deb

Check lilo.conf to make sure that both kernels are there and that you can access them via a prompt or something. Then reboot!

Chris