In README of kernel 2.4£¬the author said¡°Do NOT use the /usr/src/linux area! This area has a (usually incomplete) set of kernel headers that are used by the library header files.They should match the library, and not get messed up by whatever the kernel-du-jour happens to be.¡± What "match the library" mean?

In the newest Kernel Howto(v2.3, 23 Feb 2001), it mentioned that we should unpack the kernel tarball to /usr/src/linux. That confused me. Which is right?

If the directory /usr/src/linux/include is used by application compiling, i think we shoud put the new kernel's include to /usr/src/linux/include. But when should we do this? Before or after kernel compiling?

Does anyone know this? Thanks.

Flint Fireforge

I created a folder called /usr/src/linux-2.4.2 and then made /usr/src/linux a symlink that pointed to the aforementioned folder then I ran tar zxvf <kernel source> and it auto extracted to the /usr/src/linux directory from there I did the make mrproper; make menuconfig;make dep;make bzImage;make modules;make modules_install;make bzlilo sequence and things are working great for me! I'm running the kernel very happily execpt for the fact that it dosen't allow me to use IPchains anymore and I can't seem to get IPtables to install properly but from what I see once its installed its VERY similar to IPchains but thats getting off topic! Hope this helps you in your quest for a new kernel!

Just to mention something... The howtos never mention anything about the .config file. This is the file that contains the information for all the kernel modules that are currently configured in your presently running kernel. Make sure you save this file somewhere else, because running 'make mrproper' will delete it.
Let me tell you why this is important.. Supposed your current kernel is running perfectly fine, you got sound, you got support for all your lan interfaces, etc... Now supposed that you want to add iptables support to your kernel, so you do.

make mrproper; make xconfig; do changes you want; make dep;
make clean; make bzImage; move image into place, edit lilo.conf ,etc...

Well, doing this will add iptables to the kernel, but will have no other modules configured. That means that when your machine reboots from the new kernel, you will have no sound, no support for you lan cards, etc... The only way to keep all your old modules is by reading the .config file after running 'make config' or 'make xconfig'

By the way, if your .config file is gone, run 'make oldconfig' to generate the .config file based on your presently running kernel.

Hope this helps,
Joseph
:Pengy: