Kernel Compile
 

Hi,

If I recompile my kernel, is there someway I can keep all my current modules, so that if something goes wrong I can successfully revert back to the old kernel, or do I not need to worry about this?

When recompiling a new kernel its always best to keep your existing server for these reasons, if the new one doesn't boot, you can use the old one to boot back into your system to diagnose the problem.

Regards.

Yes, I will backup the existing kernel, but I'm concerned about the modules. Is there someway of backing these up?

If you change your kernels name (or if it is a new version) you old modules will be there yet.

Rather than back up your modules, there is another way. Immediately after finishing your config, before doing 'make dep' (or 'make bzImage' if you are building 2.6), edit the Makefile in the toplevel of the linux source tree. There are lines that define VERSION, PATCHLEVEL, SUBLEVEL, and EXTRAVERSION. Set EXTRAVERSION to something you like, such as -b2 for build 2 (your second try.).

Then go ahead and build the kernel. For convenience, I name my kernels to match so:

cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-b2

You will find that the modules are installed in a directory called /lib/modules/2.5.22-b2, leaving your old modules untouched. When you run the new kernel, 'uname -r' will return '2.4.22-b2'. Now you also know how a kernel finds it's matching modules!

OK, I see.
So, if I build a 2.6 kernel, the modules created for it will be stored in a different location to where they currently are (wherever that is!!)