Linux - KernelThis forum is for all discussion relating to the Linux kernel.
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
I have an academic question/challenge (with practical use): how small can a kernel bzImage get and still be a kernel? I'm soliciting results, suggestions, and ideas (but not useless feedback, thanks), to get the kernel size down to 50kb.
I've tried turning off support for everything that menuconfig allows (silly, I know, but I'm seriously looking for the lowest common denominator), and compiling with "standard" tools and libraries that Ubuntu provides results in a 500k image. Additionally enabling "Optimize for size" lowered this about 10%. I'm climbing the learning curve to discover how to compile against the uClibc libraries, which I suspect will have a big impact. But I'm interested in what is still there, being compiled, even when support for everything is disabled, and if (and how) I can get rid of that, too!!
I remember back when Linux kernels where just a couple of hundred kilobytes, like 300kb, back in the days when slackware was the first distro. But there wasn't support for as many drivers as today. You would have to disable support for all the hardware that you will not need and enable only module support for the hardware that you will use, especially the hard disk, video, keyboard, mouse and (very important) network card. As long as it is under 1mb it should be adequate for most embedded systems.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.