Ok another newbie question.
I am trying to compile the Linux 2.6.3 to replace kernel 2.4.20.8. I am following the instructions in the readme file after downloading. the file is in my home directory. Readme instructions are as follows.
INSTALLING the kernel:

- If you install the full sources, put the kernel tarball in a
directory where you have permissions (eg. your home directory) and
unpack it:

gzip -cd linux-2.6.XX.tar.gz | tar xvf -

Replace "XX" with the version number of the latest kernel.
but my output from the command line is:

[root@localhost home]# cd /home
[root@localhost home]# gzip cd linux-2.6.3.tar.bz2.gz | tar xvf -
gzip: cd: No such file or directory
gzip: linux-2.6.3.tar.bz2.gz: No such file or directory
[root@localhost home]#
Can someone tell me what I am doing wrong.

I think you might have forgot the - infront of cd. Or wouldn't tar -xzvf ./linux_kernel.... work as well? I think it should, thats how i normally handle compressed tarballs.

Nathan

If you ever have a problem of that sort, just simplify your command.

You could first do:

then procede to bunzip2 and tar. If once set of commands fail to work, try to simplify.

The way to unzip the file is:

tar xjvf linux-2.6.3.tar.bz2

Assuming you have a .bz2 file, which is what you normally get from kernel.org. That will completely unpack the kernel archive into a linux-2.6.3 directory.

Thanks for all the responses guys I'll try them when I get home.