Hi,

I was just wondering, why is it that kernel headers are distribution-specific? It seems to me that every linux distro has it's own headers and that in order to compile the kernel you need to get the kernel headers for your distro.

Why is this? And at what point is a kernel header too old to be used to compile a newer kernel? As an example, at the moment I have the 2.6.19.1 source and the 2.6.18 headers for Slackware. I assume these are compatible, but I still have to ask: Wouldn't it be more efficient and easier to keep up with the newer releases if headers were released without being tied to a specific distribution, or is that perhaps the entire point of the headers?

I'd appreciate any links with info about the kernel. How do the distributions make/modify their own headers to make them usable?

Thanks.

Its simple really when you think about it. Each distro uses a different kernel and they add their own patches, so using the kernel stuff from kernel.org or another distro may not be fully compatible with the changes or patches. I am not sure about Slack, but other distros release kernel headers for all the kernels and their upgrades as well.