Hello

I have two questions for you:
1. is there a small how-to for creating a packages with a custom compiled kernel? I have the sources from current/testing/source/linux-2.6.16.22, but I would like to make a package with 2.6.17.1 and I don't know exactl the what-and how. Is it enought if I copy the tar.bz2 of the original kernel sources, create the kernel config and modify the versions in the .SlackBuild files? (also the "stock" kernel options are not enough)
2. are there any pro/con opinios for "big" kernels? Let me explain: I have several servers and I want to make a kernel package to install on these. The only difference will be in drivers/raid. Since I don't quite like initrd, I would like to statically build the essential drivers into the kernel (filesystem, raid, lvm, chipseturi), so theat any machine will be able to get to the module loading section in the boot sequence. The rest will be modules. This will increase the size of the bzImage. Did anoyone notice any performance hit in these situations?

Thanks in advance.

If you are using a server wouldn't you want to stick to the 2.6.16.x branch? That's now the stablising branch with most new features only going into the 2.6.17.x kernel tree. If you want a server then I would have thought the stable branch would have been more fitting as servers have to remain up and running for a long time and having a stable base would be a better way to achieve this.

I build 98% of my drivers into the kernel, and generally only have 1 or 2 modules. There is nothing wrong with that, and to be honest, that has always made a lot more sense to me. If it is hardware I never plan on removing, why make the driver for it modular?

As for making the package, that is not too hard. Basically build the kernel and modules as you normally would, and install everything on the one machine. Do some testing, make sure it all works. Then remove all of the Slackware default kernel packages from the system, and have only your new kernel on it.

Then do something like

mkdir /tmp/kernel_pkg
mkdir /tmp/kernel_pkg/lib
mkdir /tmp/kernel_pkg/etc
cd /tmp/kernel_pkg
cp -a /boot ./
cp -a /lib/modules/ ./lib/
cp /etc/lilo.conf ./etc/
makepkg kernel-2.6.17.1-i386-1.tgz

That will make a Slackware package that contains the current kernel, modules, and lilo configuration file. To install that on another machine, just install it as normal, and make sure to run "lilo" after it is done, to update your boot loader.

Do note that it is fairly dangerous to do it this way, and you should fully expect for something to go wrong the first few times until you tweak it properly.

As far as I know, the "numbering plan" for the kernel releases has changed, so the odd numbered versions are no longer in the testing stage.