Building your own kernel LQ wiki working thread

Originally Posted by hazel There may have been originally. But as I've repeated the operation a few times, the last vmlinuz.old file that I found was just the previous version of the experimental kernel. We'll never be able to reconstruct the problem now. But I've edited the wiki a bit to say that the make install option installs the kernel as vmlinuz and renames any existing file of that name to vmlinuz.old, which may not be what you want. That makes the alternative install method (in which you choose the name) follow on rather well.

I do agree with colorpurple21859 that adding something about make install installing the kernel as /boot/vmlinuz is warranted. But I wasn't sure how to add it without adding confusion at the same time, so I just left it (and figured you'd probably add something yourself anyway).

Although, I was thinking that perhaps the "Installing the kernel itself" sub-section could be reorganized a bit. So for example, perhaps adding another sub-section below that to handle anything beyond how you can install the kernel. For example:

Notes/Things to consider

- make install will install the built kernel as /boot/vmlinuz This will overwrite any previous kernel executable or link with the same filename...etc.
- make install will copy over system.map to /boot...etc.
- The installation script will attempt to add the new kernel to the LILO configuration file. If you are using a different bootloader, ...etc.

------------------------------------------------------------

Although the title should be just one of the names in bold font above, not both. Also, make install does not copy over the .config for the kernel config used. And saying "the installation script" doesn't make it clear that, that refers to using the make install method. So I think we need to be clearer on those things while we're at it.

In other words: we should just have the steps/commands to install the kernel itself, with another sub-section under that to explain the above.

No, I'm against that. There are already too many sections. I put a single sentence in about nomenclature and I think that's enough.

Originally Posted by hazel Should be OK. Just proceed according to instructions. And please change your signature. It's offensive.

Thank you, I can now proceed.

I have changed signature but it was offensive only because jsbjsb001 was offensive to me first.
You can see this here: https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...8/#post6202222

Originally Posted by hazel No, I'm against that. There are already too many sections. I put a single sentence in about nomenclature and I think that's enough.

Well, it was just a thought - although I'm not sure that reorganizing that particular sub-section (keeping the same flow as it currently has) would really make it much longer, or anymore difficult to follow.

I do think that the things I was talking about above do need to be clarified though. I'm not talking about any detailed explanations, just pretty much what's already there with one extra line about the fact the kernel config used for the build won't be copied over by make install. As we should be as clear and accurate as possible - particularly for those that have never built their own kernel, but otherwise have enough basic skills to be able to follow the article and get something workable together. As we can't expect them to somehow "just know" exactly what make install is going to do apart from install the kernel itself of course.

I've made a couple of edits to the "Installing the kernel itself" sub-section to make it a tad clearer. I got rid of the sentence about make install automatically copying over System.map and the kernel config used to build the kernel with, since it doesn't copy over the kernel config used to build the kernel, and it's already stated that if you choose the "manual way" of installing the kernel, it's a good idea to also copy over System.map and the kernel config used to build it with (so there's no need for an extra statement about make install automatically copying over System.map when it's clearly implied that it would be anyway beforehand). So therefore that should be enough without confusing someone who doesn't know better with a unnecessary and inaccurate statement afterwards. I also changed "installation script" in the note below with "If you use make to install the kernel, ..." since that makes it more clear to someone who once again might not know better.

While I still don't see how adding a sub-section below that to cover stuff apart from the steps themselves to install the kernel (either with make install or manually) would really make the article much longer, let alone somehow make it more difficult to follow; I think my edits are a good compromise.

My mistake then and I'm glad you picked it up. I was under the impression that the make install script copied all three files, since every distro I know has all three in /boot, often with a set of version-neutral links to the actual files. I assumed that was how the scripted installation was actually done.

If that is not the case, the statement about copying those two files over should be moved out of the manual paragraph into a note, because it applies to both methods. I will do that.

Originally Posted by hazel ... If that is not the case, the statement about copying those two files over should be moved out of the manual paragraph into a note, because it applies to both methods. I will do that.

That's exactly why I suggested the extra sub-section below that Hazel

OK, check it out now. Though frankly I shall be glad when there is no more need to edit this thing. I'm getting bored with it.

Just a quick note; make install does copy the System.map file, but it doesn't copy over the kernel config (.config) used to build the kernel with.

Try now.

Yeah, that looks a lot better and clearer, particularly the code boxes. Although, I would still make "Notes:" an actual sub-heading/sub-section rather than having as "Notes:", and having the dot points in front of both paragraphs (like above that). Other than that, I think it'll do and nothing else should need to be edited there.

Do people think the article is finished now? Thoughts?

Looks good

It's finished as far as I'm concerned. I'm bored with it!

Cool.

I've added a few things to a few of the sub-sections in Tips and tricks, in the "Copying your current kernel configuration over to your new kernel build" sub-section and the "LLVM/Clang build issues" sub-section. Because I just realized you can actually get your current kernel config from /proc as well, if it isn't available in /boot. And I just found a pahole package in the repo's of my distro that is not installed, so I added a quick line about you can either find the package pahole is in and install it or you can disable the relevant kernel config option (as we already had there anyway).

In any case, I'd like to thank everyone for their suggestions and help with this as that has been really helpful to create the article. And I'd like to say a very special thanks to Hazel for all of her help and insights into the process which has been absolutely vital IMO to making the article as good as it is. And both Hazel's technical knowledge in the matter and her writing skills are second to none. So thanks again for your help with this effort Hazel!