Reverse engineering the kernel
 

Hi peeps - here's a tricky one for ya!
Does anybody know of a reliable utility which examines a compiled kernel and from that produces a reliable .config file which can be used to reproduce the said kernel?
An url or ftp address for either would be most gratefully received.
Cheers
Lol :D

why would you need to do this?

almost any conpiled kernel from any distro will have a .config file available somewhere

I'm using Slackware 8.1 and every config file I can find for the kernel is a vanilla config file and does NOT reflect the hardware I have ergo sum it was not the one used to build the currently running kernel as that DOES recognise and utilise my hardware.Except sound which needs me to recompile with other options but I can't get things right from the base config files and wanted to just tweak a config that I know works - geddit?

well i dotn know what to suggest. youre the only one ive ever heard ask this. Why not do what the rest of the linux community does, and that is go thru the options, and read the help, decide if you need it or not.

Its worthwhile doing because i garantee it will produce a much leaner kernel than any precompiled .config will, plus you will learn what the options do.

I still have a config which has been basically the same since 2.4.5, and for each ner kernel i just adjuct it for the new options.

Did you look in /usr/src/linux ?
 

I agree about it being kind of a pain, deciding whether you need some of the options or not. Most are easy, but some are a little harder to decide. When I wanted to recompile my kernel the first time, I just took the one in /usr/src/linux and made changes from there. Once I had a working one I liked, I saved it, both to a different directory, and burned it to a CD with other things I was backing up.

Why not just start with one of Pat's basic .config

pop up the X config tool make you changes?

Ok, maybe I am wrong on this one, but when you rebuilt your kernel to make it recognize your hardware, didn't it ask you to save your config file? If not, if you are referring to right after install, isn't there a .config file in your /boot directory?

I'm talking about right after the install and I've checked out this .config file in /boot and it doesn't have options enabled i.e. pcmcia stuff which I know is working cos the kernel is using cardmgr to see my eth0 and pcmcia modem and loading the appropriate modules.