I'm having trouble compiling a new kernel. I need to make a .config file based on my current kernel. The tutorial says I have to goto /usr/src/(original kernel folder) and type make oldconfig. But when I goto that folder there is only a folder called rpm and it's almost empty.

I'm using slacklware 9.0. Is it in a different place in this version? Also after I make the .config file I have to copy it to my new kernel folder and edit it to remove some options. What do I have to run? make xconfig, or will that make a new config file. The tutorial says to copy my original .config file in order to make a stable kernel.

I kinda depends on how you installed Slackware. If you downloaded an ISO and installed from that, odds are you didn't install the kernel source package. If you installed from purchased disks, you MAY have installed the kernel source, in which case it should be in /usr/src.

Not to worry though, if your /usr/src is essentially empty, you can either download the kernel source Slackware package from your favorite Slackware mirror (look in the k folder), or you can get the source from kernel.org and extract it to your /usr/src directory.

It looks you don't have the older version kernel source installed. Install it from your installation cd first.

One more thing...it may be that your old kernel config doesn't fit the new one. It happens sometimes. In such case you need to configure it yourself.

Oh great, I installed from an iso I downloaded. I guess I don't have a kernel source. If I had to install with the ibmmca.s kernel, will I have trouble compiling a new kernel? I need to have a kernel that's error free and I noticed that when I started there was an "error 2" and an "error 3" right away. I used make xconfig and selected my options. Then I ran make dep and noticed those errors. So I quit right there and started to look around for help.

If I re-install linux from the cd, is there an option to copy the source to the hard drive?

OK I downloaded the ibmmca.s folder from the kernels folder from a slackware 9.0 mirror and copied it to my /usr/src/directory. It has 3 files: bzImage, config, and System.map.gz. Is this the right file? When I try to run make configold it says no rule to make target "oldconfig". Am I doing this right?

Um, not quite.

What you probably want to do is make menuconfig (or make xconfig if you have X running). At the bottom of the menu is an option that allows you to import a config file. Use that to import the config file you extracted to /usr/src.

Just in case you don't know, the 3 files you downloaded are the results from going through a kernel compile. bzImage is the kernel, config is the configuration (this is the file you want to import).

If you haven't already, be sure to read through the sticky thread by DaOne at the top of this forum. It has truly excellent advice on compiling your own kernel.

Thanks Hangdog42. I figured it out and got my kernel running properly.