Please help me understand this.

Slackware 9.1 - 2.4.22

What does the config-ide-2.4.22 file in /boot do exactly?

If I do a make menuconfig there are less options installed as to if I would replace the .config file in /usr/src/linux/.config from /boot and do a make menuconfig?

Why is this?

Is the .config file from /boot the configuration for the kernel that was installed when I installed Slackware? The other one is just a basic kernel, with no options installed? Is this correct?

I saw this when I had trouble with my Frame-buffer feature. It seems that there are more options one can choose if the config file is copied to /urs/src/linux/.config from /boot, rather than just doing a make menuconfig without copying the file.

Forgive my ignorance, I'm new to Linux and kernel compiling in particular.

are you compiling a 2.6 kernel now? the 2.4.xx series uses a different layout that just looks like there's more. The new kernel is setup different but still has all the same options - well, it may have more, actually. When you use the 2.4.xx config it uses the old menu. Is that what you're asking?

I think this may be because the old config file has kernel development features turned on (I think that is what it is called). If you're in a terminal in x try doing make xconfig, and the first option at the top should say something like 'turn kernel development features on'. If it's on, you get more (expiremental) options for the kernel. If it's off, the list is shorter. That would be my guess.

Personally, I would ditch the kernel config from the slackware 2.4.22 kernel, and just start from scratch on your own. Kernel compiling seems like rocket science at first, until you do it a couple times. After a while it will seem like old hat. Make sure you are VERY familiar with all of your hardware, and decide ahead of time if you want to compile thing into the kernel, or do everything as a module. Also, try to plan for changes in hardware, like compiling all of the joystick drivers as modules in case you buy a new gamepad or something. There is a sticky thread at the top of this forum for 2.6.0 kernel compiles. Let us know if you have any problems/questions.

slight

Thanks for responding!

It's actually the 2.4.22 kernel I'm trying to improve. I'll try to explain a little better.

I just installed Slackware for the first time, I'm a newbie when it comes to Linux in general. So before I went any further with my router project I decided to learn a little more about compiling the kernel.

So I follow these steps
[cd /usr/src/linux]
[make mrproper]
[make menuconfig]

When I do this the kernel has nearly nothing installed, no NIC modules, not IPTables/Netfilter, no frame-buffer support, no nothing really.

BUT..

If I run this first
[cp /boot/config-ide-2.4.22 /usr/src/linux/.config]

and then

[cd /usr/src/linux]
[make mrproper]
[make menuconfig]

Then the menuconfig shows a totally different setup/configuration.
Why is this?

What kernel was I about to compile before since the configuration on these two separate kernels are not the same? That is the question.
These two kernels/configurations are not the same and I wonder why?

*EDIT* Spelling

Ahhhh!
I understand now. The config-ide-2.4.22 is the old configuration file that was used to make the bare.i kernel that came with slack 9.1.

Everytime you compile the kernel you have 2 options. You can use an old config file that has all of the options saved in it from the last time you compiled the kernel, or you can start from scratch and build a config file on your own. By copying the old config file from config-ide-2.4.22 to /usr/src/linux/.config you are telling make to use the options in that file. If you don't need to change anything, then you would simply do 'make oldconfig'..... make would read the .config file, and use all of the options in there. If you do make menuconfig, or make xconfig, then make will read the .config file, pre-fill the menu with the options listed in it, and then offer you the ability to make any changes you need. If you don't copy config-ide-2.4.22 to /usr/src/linux/.config, then running make menuconfig or make xconfig will start you off with the kernel defaults, and you will have to fill in the rest of the options on your own. When you are done with make menuconfig or make xconfig, a .config file is created in /usr/src/linux that has all the options you chose saved in it. You can copy that file somewhere safe, and then reuse it if you ever need to when you compile the kernel again.

Cool? Cool.

slight

Oh that's very cool

Thanks for helping me understand!