We are using the 2.6.21.5 huge.smp kernel and I want to switch over to the generic.

According to the README file, I downloaded the 2.6.21.5-generic kernel to my /home directory and

I then went into /usr/src/linux and

Now the README says to go into /usr/src/linux and
however, there is no /build/kernel directory in my /home directory.

Is the README file talking about installing the kernel source, which would create these directories?

Help appreciated.

I think you're doing too much. Check your /boot. All the kernels should already be there. All you need to do is change a few symlinks in /boot, make an initrd as explained in the REAME.initrd there, and run lilo.

I had thought to do that, but there is no system.map for the generic kernel. I thought maybe this was created by compiling.

slackware/a has several kernel packages , check them out

what you are doing is not installing a generic kernel
but compiling your own custom kernel
there are documentation about installing the
generic kernel packages using mkinitrd tool

Hi,

I usually do a '~#user mkdir /home/build' as a ~#/home/user. That way I can move to an from the build user space without problems. That way you will be able to compile the kernel independent of the root. Of course you would become root to to the install portion, 'make modules_install' or copy the 'bzImage' to the /boot. Or modify the '/etc/lilo.conf' and then write the 'lilo'.

I sometimes create a build in my /home directory. This is just ease of use. But if I want someone else to have access then I create in the /home/build and provide permissions.

This warning is sometimes ignored by users but should not present you with a problem if you use the build technique.

This should be self defining but;

They are speaking of a build area that is independent of the 'usr/src/linux'. Most programmers use this technique so as not to mess with the original space or tree.

The build is independent of the '/usr/src/linux-2.6.N' directory.

Notice the 'sudo'! You could also do a 'su' if you haven't modified the '/etc/sudoers' file to include yourself. You will have to provide the root password.

Also remember the lib warning!

You can make your compile unique by editing the 'Makefile' by adding a unique label to the 'EXTRAVERSION ='
option before you compile.

edit: clarify a statement

I did the full the install. System.map-generic-smp-2.6.21.5-smp is part of the kernel-generic-smp-2.6.21.5_smp-i686-2. If you don't have that package, find it in slackware/a/, and install it:

We do have the generic-smp system.map but it's for i686 which gives us problems. The non-smp generic is for i486 but there's no system.map

I have to revise that. I tried using the generic-smp kernel again and now it functions. Maybe all the rearranging we did on the rc.* files made it so that now it functions. (We had rc.new files for the new kernel that I made functional.)

Thanks all.