Building your own kernel LQ wiki working thread

Originally Posted by hazel OK, done.

Looks good Hazel. I added a line in the "Making your kernel bootable section" about there being further info about configuring bootloaders in Tips and tricks too.

PS: Make install doesn't work for me. I get the following weird error: sudo make install sh ./arch/x86/boot/install.sh 5.10.3 arch/x86/boot/bzImage \ System.map "/boot" Fatal: open /boot/vmlinuz-generic-4.4.14: No such file or directory arch/x86/boot/Makefile:160: recipe for target 'install' failed make[1]: *** [install] Error 1 arch/x86/Makefile:275: recipe for target 'install' failed make: *** [install] Error 2 Of course /boot/vmlinuz-generic-4.4.14 doesn't exist! It's a very old kernel version that I haven't used since God knows when. But why the install script was looking for it, I have no idea.

Strange, I didn't have the problem with building kernel 5.10.1

Maybe you need to do a "make clean" or similar, and try again?

Originally Posted by colorpurple21859 The need of an initrd has nothing to do with grub, grub understands uuids, otherwise the search function seen in grub menus using uuids wouldn't work. The kernel needs the initrd to understand the root=uuid=xxx option. when root=UUID=xxx is passed to the kernel to find the root filesystem.

Thanks colorpurple21859, I didn't know that either. Thanks for clarifying that for us.

How would you say we clarify that point in the article?

I believe that for most changing it to root=/dev/xxxx instead of root=uuid=xxxxx would work, therefore skipping the need for an initrd. Otherwise a line something like this:
"to use the root=uuid=xxxxx kernel option instead of root=/dev/xxxx an initrd/initramfs is neededed"

I added a line in the "Manually adding your new kernel to your GRUB boot menu" sub-section saying you need an initrd if you plan on using "root=UUID=" in the kernel parameters for the GRUB config. Thanks again colorpurple21859.

Also see my changes.

Yeah, I already did, after I already added the line. Although, probably not a big deal anyways...

Originally Posted by jsbjsb001 I wish I could give them the benefit of doubt, but it's very difficult. So I very much doubt they were even serious in begin with - why Jeremy hasn't deleted their account yet is beyond me... it really is.

Please stop trying only to hurt me and say lies about me. You can not delete my account because you are not Admin or Mod.

Originally Posted by rtmistler in post #10 of this thread

Thanks you very much, it is nice that some people really like to help others so I can be better at Linux, and not only abuse. I will now try!

To get back to the point: I tried a second time with a fresh untar and the same .config and I still could not get make install to work. It probably has something to do with the way Slackware sets up the links in its boot directory.

So I am going to simply copy the image over as I usually do (and the wiki does include instructions for doing that so I will not be cheating). Then I will follow my own instructions for copying it to the ESP and editing elilo.conf, and check that it is bootable.

Originally Posted by hazel ...So I am going to simply copy the image over as I usually do (and the wiki does include instructions for doing that so I will not be cheating). ...

Well we have got two different ways to install the kernel itself in the article, so even if someone has issues with make install, they can still do it the manual way that you do it anyway, if worst comes to worst. So I don't think it's a big deal personally.

I don't know about Slackware since I've never tried building anything on it before; but out of morbid curiosity I tried make install for the build of kernel 5.10.1 I done the other week, and it worked with no problems;

[root@jamespc linux-5.10.1]# make install
sh ./arch/x86/boot/install.sh 5.10.1 arch/x86/boot/bzImage \
        System.map "/boot"
Cannot find LILO.

So as you can see, no problems, and I checked, and the kernel is there. So I suspect it may well be some sort of Slackware issue.
Do you get the same error on other distros?

Originally Posted by jsbjsb001 Do you get the same error on other distros?

No idea. I only have Slackware and LFS now. And AntiX on the laptop. I wouldn't want to build a kernel on that. It would take forever!

If it was kernel 5.10.3 that you tried to install after building it, I might download it myself and see if I can recreate the error. Was it kernel 5.10.3 ?

Originally Posted by jsbjsb001 If it was kernel 5.10.3 that you tried to install after building it, I might download it myself and see if I can recreate the error. Was it kernel 5.10.3 ?

Yes, it was.

I just downloaded it, so I'll let ya know later on if make install works for me or not. I suspect it probably will, since I can't see why they would make any real changes to it from previous kernel versions.

I'm sure it's something on my system. That kernel version number sounds like something I might have had as part of the original install. But I certainly don't have it now, so I wonder where the scripts got it from. The arch/boot/Makefile simply calls the install script (the install.sh mentioned in the message) which copies the kernel image, config file and system map to /boot, naming the kernel vmlinuz, and then tries to update LILO. Any existing files are renamed to .old. Nothing about looking for specific old kernels and breaking when they aren't found. It's a complete mystery to me.

PS: Just checked in /var/log/packages. 4.4.14 turns out to have been my installation kernel. I never properly removed it, just deleted the files by hand. I've uninstalled it now and I'll see if that makes any difference.

PSS: Nope, it still fails with the same message. Oh well, never mind. I've copied it by hand now and added it to elilo.conf. We'll see if it boots.