I keep getting this error when I run the make command after unzipping the kernel and configuring it..........................................make[1]: *** No rule to make target 'debian/canonical-certs.pem', needed by 'certs/x509_certificate_list'. Stop.
make: *** [Makefile:1853: certs] Error 2

What in the hell is the deal with this as its getting very annoying and frustrating when I've tried probably honestly a hundred times to download, compile and install a new version of the kernel. My dumbass has never been able to accomplish this simple task. Any help would be greatly appreciated.. I am NOT a computer whiz either so take that into account when answering. Thanks.

So. What exactly did you do? And what step did you get this issue?

Did you install any software beforehand to support this process you are trying? Most likely there are prerequisites that needs to be fullfilled for you to (as I understand) manually compile a kernel.
It's a bit early here and I'm tired, but I'm going to just take a wild guess, that you don't have the libopenssl-devel package installed.

Looking at some "how to compile a Kernel in Debian, most of them seem to mention these:

This is the response I get after running the "make" command....................
DESCEND objtool
DESCEND bpf/resolve_btfids
CALL scripts/atomic/check-atomics.sh
CALL scripts/checksyscalls.sh
CHK include/generated/compile.h
make[1]: *** No rule to make target 'debian/canonical-certs.pem', needed by 'certs/x509_certificate_list'. Stop.
make[1]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
make: *** [Makefile:1853: certs] Error 2
make: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
CHK kernel/kheaders_data.tar.xz


I really don't know how i can be more specific than that. The suggestion above did nothing to solve the problem unfortunately.

Actually, I do not think complying a kernel is a simple task. I have not compiled a kernel in a number of years but a quick google had a number of threads/guides that indicated to change the following line in the config file to an empty string.

CONFIG_SYSTEM_TRUSTED_KEYS = ""

You did not provide details but when first starting out it was always easier to use the config file from the current build then run make oldconfig.

Your posted distribution is debian but the icon is Ubuntu. You can install the latest Ubuntu kernels without complying it your self.
https://itsfoss.com/upgrade-linux-kernel-ubuntu/

Did you check if libopenssl and libopenssl-devel is installed? Please double check for those in your package manager.

And did you run the apt command to install those 6 packages? If you did, did some of them actually install or did you have them already?

It wont let me install them. It says it cant locate the packages. I'll try the ubuntu site the other fella advised. I'm running Pop OS.

I had most of them already installed also. I've run the suggestions on every thread probably ten different times with each sites instructions and I've NEVER been able to perform this task. It makes me hate Linux honestly!!!! Something like this shouldn't be this goddamn hard....period. Maybe I should find another hobby. I'm certainly fast losing my once strong interest in everything Linux. I'm now starting to realize why it's never made it with the everyday citizen, that is for sure.

But thanks for your attempts at helping me. Again, it shouldn't be this hard and if it is then that tells you something. At least it tells me something.

Ahh, sorry, my fault then. I thought you were running debian. Those are some dependencies to compile a Kernel on debian.

Try looking for "openssl".

Don't give up! There is a reason for everything, and dealing with this is quite procedural (/simple). To be able to compile a Kernel, some software is necessary. Some distroes have all that software installed already, while others need you to install a bunch of software to be able to compile the Kernel. In any case, there are "dependencies" so to say, you can't do it if those are not fulfilled.

I don't know much about Pop OS to be honest, and I can't quite tell you what is missing or not. I don't even know if it has a package manager, but I see that it is Ubuntu based, so I assume it has a package manager alike to Ubuntu and that the process to compile a Kernel on Pop OS would be similar to Ubuntu.

Under "tools you need", you need to install those before you can proceed.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Kernel/Compile
This guide list some dependencies, but the guide is quite old..

Anyways, some distroes are PITA to do anything on, and Ubuntu is one of those, it always has been a PITA to compile a Kernel in Ubuntu, which is why so few people do it, and it is generally discouraged. If you want to do it, you need to find out how to do it on a Ubuntu/based distro or use another distro.

If you try another distro like Slackware, you will see that the process is NOT hard. I'm using yet another distro, and although it is harder than it is on Slackware, it is not hard. I will include a list of software I need to install on my distro to be able to compile a Kernel. Perhaps those entries can help you:

Those are packages and their autoresolved dependencies. So don't worry so much about the dependencies (they should hopefully resolve themselves for you too). Don't worry about it saying lib64*, that's just the way my distro does it. They might be named just lib* in your distro or some other naming norms. The ones in bold are the ones I think are generally important, so check if you have them installed.

Anyways, I assume you have done these steps already:
downloaded kernel from kernel.org
unpacked it
make clean, make mrproper, make menuconfig it..

And that you are now trying "make", and it fails.

Why do you use Pop OS anyways and not another distro? Any particular reason, or are you open minded in regards to using another distro?

Yes, it should tell you Ubuntu and derivatives is trash and that you should perhaps consider a better distro.

And also, why are you trying this in the first place? Do you really NEED or WANT to compile your own Kernel? Is it necessary or are you just inflicting unecessary pain on yourself?

Nothing to be sorry for. The error message mentions debian, the op's moniker list debian buster, the agent string is ubuntu, and the op finally mentions it is popos, so how are we suppose to know what distro the op is building the kernel on, what kernel is attempting to be compiled, or even why the need to recompile the kernel The op complains how hard linux is, but is attempting to do an advance administrative task the majority of the average linux users would never have the need to do.

What exact steps are you following?
Try my suggestion in post #4

https://www.linux.com/topic/desktop/...inux-kernel-0/

There are many aspects to linux. If you want to be on the bleeding edge and want to run the latest and greatest then a rolling release distribution might be a better choicee but be aware that any one update could break your system.

If you really want to know what it takes to build a running system try Linux From Scratch.

https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

look for this line in your .config or something similar
and change to this