Here's what happened. I was on my way to compile the kernel. I ran make clean. Then I ran make xconfig. I had already run startx. Xconfig gave me an error. I will show the full dialog in a minute. So I ran menuconfig. It also crashed with an error. Something about ncurses needed to be installed. So, I got the RPM off of the RedHat website and installed it. It gave me some conflict errors, showing that I already had ncurses. I tried xconfig and menuconfig again, and neither worked. I was compiling 2.4.21 while running 2.4.20. I'm using RedHat Linux 7.2. I had this same error recompiling my current (2.4.20) source, too. So, anybody have any idea what's wrong??

Here is the xconfig error messages:
rm -f include/asm
( cd include ; ln -sf asm-i386 asm)
make -C scripts kconfig.tk
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.21/scripts'
cat header.tk >> ./kconfig.tk
./tkparse < ../arch/i386/config.in >> kconfig.tk
echo "set defaults \"arch/i386/defconfig\"" >> kconfig.tk
echo "set ARCH \"i386\"" >> kconfig.tk
cat tail.tk >> kconfig.tk
chmod 755 kconfig.tk
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.21/scripts'
wish -f scripts/kconfig.tk
Error in startup script:
error waiting for process to exit: child process lost (is SIGCHLD ignored or trapped?)error waiting for process to exit: child process lost (is SIGCHLD ignored or trapped?)
while executing
"exec echo $val | sed s/^-//g | tr -d \[:digit:\] "
(procedure "validate_int" line 2)
invoked from within
"validate_int CONFIG_SD_EXTRA_DEVS "$CONFIG_SD_EXTRA_DEVS" 40"
(procedure "update_define_menu25" line 11)
invoked from within
"update_define_menu$i"
(procedure "update_define" line 3)
invoked from within
"update_define 1 $total_menus 0"
(file "scripts/kconfig.tk" line 26182)
make: *** [xconfig] Error 1

Here's the menuconfig error messages:
rm -f include/asm
( cd include ; ln -sf asm-i386 asm)
make -C scripts/lxdialog all
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.21/scripts/lxdialog'

>> Unable to find the Ncurses libraries.
>>
>> You must have Ncurses installed in order
>> to use 'make menuconfig'

make[1]: *** [ncurses] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.4.21/scripts/lxdialog'
make: *** [menuconfig] Error 2

Please help me!
Eric S.

I had this errormessage once too. It is easy.
This message comes if you do not have installed gcc.
The other possibility is that you didn t have installed the libncurses5 or libncurses5-dev
I do not know if you need libncurses or libncurses5-dev i installed both cause i was too lazy to find out which package i need.

# Compiling/installing kernel modules
You will need to have installed:
1. The developmental packages (compiler)
2. The kernel source code that matches your running kernel
3. The module source or install code

Check out your system and see what's under the hood and see if you installed the stuff you need to do the job. Open an x terminal and type in this sequence of commands to see what kernel we are running and see if you have the kernel source installed:I am running kernel version 2.4.18-3. Do I have the proper source code?I do have the same kernel version source code installed in the directory /usr/src/linux-2.4.18-3 and there is a symbolic link named linux-2.4 pointing to it.

If you don't see something similiar to this (but in color), you will need to install the kernel source.

NOTE: I noticed that Red Hat didn't make the symbolic link /usr/src/linux that all of the INSTALL files that I have read mentioned that I need, so I may as well make one now to save editing the files in the source code to install.So, I'll make it just now:Ah, there it is, so that's done.

Next, did I install the compiler?Yes, I have a compiler installed.

If you don't have those two things installed, you have to install them first off your install CD.

If they are installed, download the source and happy comiling. Make sure you carefully read the README and INSTALL files after extracting and before compiling/installing.

# Guides to software and installation and uninstallation
LNAG - How do I install a program I downloaded from the Internet?
Rute Guide's software explanation
You might want to check out CheckInstall to manage source code installations/uninstallation

# Redhat links
RedHat Linux Manuals
Get your mp3 support here
Maximum RPM
rpmfind
Easier software management: apt4rpm - Red Carpet
RedHat 8.0 Tips & Tricks

# Redhat 7.3 down configuration commands
setup leads to several configuration tools

# Redhat 7.3 up configuration commands
Configure soundcard:
redhat-config-soundcard
Configure X server:
redhat-config-xfree86
Configure network:
redhat-config-network

# Handling NTFS
New Technology FileSystem (NTFS) HOWTOs
Linux NTFS project

I reinstalled RedHat and fixed this problem.