A new kernel meets an old distro?
 

Hello I just downloaded the latest kernel and just for the sheer fun of it I'm downloading Slack 9.1 and I want to run the latest kernel off of it. There is an option in one of the screens to where you can load one off of a floppy disk, the file I downloaded for the kernel was a .bz2 is this OK to put on the floppy - will this run the kernel? Furthermore, would my idea actually work? Or would would it just overload the system because of the newest kernel and just crash on me? Thanks for the help.

If you downloaded the kernel from kernel.org you will need to compile it after you have installed the distro. For a guide to compiling it see:
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Compiling_a_Kernel

eep, looks confusing sort of. So I can put the .bz2 file on the floppy and install the distro regularly but afterwards I need to compile it when it's all done?


And may I ask what "rm -rf /" does?

If you are downloading the full kernel from kernel.org I doubt you will get it to fit on a floppy, it's about 36MB.

See "man rm" look up the arguments -r and -f and what they will do to your root partition.

Hmm.. says it's 4mb, maybe that's why it's a .bz2. But the file is telling me it's a patch, what's going on here? I'm going back to kernel.org and looking for the real kernel.

Thanks for the info on your sig, I'll check the arguments out.

In kernel.org in like like:

the 2.6.11 link is a link to the latest patch. You need the "F" link to download the whole kernel source.

And all those are kernel sources. The need to be compiled, with the options you need for you computer.

It's all written down at the bottom of the page.

Thanks. I'm downloading the "F" file right now. So the patch just gives me 2.6.11? I'm just getting deeply confused..


Update: OK, I think I understand this a bit more now. I just need to burn the "F" Kernel to a cd-rom along with its patch (.bz2 files). But in the installation do I just choose to have no kernel and then later put the disc in my drive and go from there to compile it?

Feel free to correct me if I am worng, which I probably am.

If you had vanila kernel 2.6.10 then you would only need to download the patch in order to get 2.6.11. So when 2.6.12 comes out you don't need to download the whole thing again. Just:
cd /usr/src/linux
bzcat /path/to/patch-xxx.bz2 | patch -p1

When you install, just use the kernel on the disk and worry about updting the kernel after the distribution is installed and working.

Hmm.. so I just have to have this kernel on and then I can throw on the patches. OK thanks.