[SuSE x86 linux 8.2, 2.4.24 kernel building]

I'm building kernels from ftp.kernel.org: 2.4.24. In previous builds there
was a very handy "file" /proc/config.z that allowed me to find out exactly
how the currently running kernel was configured. I could then do
cd /usr/src/linux-xx.yy.zz/
zcat /proc/config.z >.config
make oldconfig
make menuconfig -- fix a few things
make dep && make bzImage ...

The /proc/config.z file seems to have disappeared! Is there some
config parameter that enables this? Or has it gone away between 2.4.20
and 2.4.24?

I apologize if I posted improperly. I did not realize LFS was itself a distribution
rather than a discussion of completely ad-hoc linux. My question is certainly not
tied to any particular distribution, as it regards the canonical kernel from linux.org.
I'll try posting to the "software" group. Again, I'm sorry -- I appreciate the effort
to control the chaos of online fora....
-- George Young