no i686 kernel source?
 

I just took a gander at Red Hat site and checked for i686 kernel source rpm but didn't find anything? If I use the "kernel-2.4.20-20.9.i686.rpm" as an update to my 20.6 kernel can I safely use the i386 kernel source or is everything gonna be messed up?

Right now running uname -m I get "i686".

I'm afraid that if I use i386 kernel source then I'll be getting problems compiling programs later - true?

i am just newb
 

But you should read a bit about compiling the kernel.

Short answer, kernel source contains code maturity and platform specific options, i386 is just one of them, for older intel platform machines, left there mostly for compatibility purposes.
Use 686 if you are on x86 processor better than pentium MMX, but do your homework first.:tisk:

hmm.. RH9 installation put in i686 by default - 2.4.20-20.6 .. Before updating I checked the kernel arch using "uname -m" and that's what the output was --> i686. (I'm running a P4 2.5GHz 533FSB & 1.5G's DDR333 RAM).

I used the 20.9 update rpm (i686) but now that I want to get the kernel sources I'm stumped.

What can I use for kernel source? :study:

I am fairly certain that the kernel source is not specific to any particular architecture. If you download the sources from kernel.org, you can compile them for whatever architecture you want (386, 486, athlon, or whatever).

Even if you do compile for 386, it will still work fine on your 686. I don't know of any problems you'd run into by having a 386-optimized kernel. It might run a tiny bit faster if it's optimized for your architecture, but they are compatible.

:D thanks wapcaplet.

I may stick with RH's kernel source files - don't want anything to be messed up if I get the true kernel from kernel.org... Lord knows RH tweaked the kernel enough to make something not work if I got anything other than their kernel stuff...