Hi Gang,

I'm a seasoned kernel compiler, and I've read the howto and lots of other stuff... but this question has me stumped.

Say, as a starting point, I wanted to re-create the kernel that RH9 ships on its install disks. The .config file exists:

/boot/config-2.4.20-8

Which is the same as:

/usr/src/linux-2.4.20-8/configs/kernel-2.4.20-athlon.config

Theoretically, I should be able to copy this to /usr/src/linux-2.4.20-8/.config and make the kernel.

But what's weird, is if I run "make xconfig" and do NOTHING but save the .config back out, all sorts of things in it change (not just the order). One example is CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G=y which gets removed post-xconfig.

"make oldconfig" doesn't indicate that there should be any differences.

Anybody know WHY xconfig changes the stock .config file which was supposedly created under 2.4.20-8 by RedHat?


Thanks for the time,

~Greg Bell