Kernel Recompiling
 

Hi there!
I've tried to recompile the kernel in Slackware 8.1. But the recompiling wasn't succesful.(Although I didn't see any errors) I've read in a book that a zImage file should've been created but I didn't find such a file. Maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong? Here're the commands I used:

make dep; make clean; make; make modules; make modules_install

After the recompiling was over like I said I didn't find the zImage file so I booted the old kernel. But the strangest thing is that now my network card doesn't work.(At boot up I see an error: Can't find the <my_network_card_module>)
Thanks in advance!

You missed the step where you actually build the kernel. make bzImage

Then the kernel will be located in /arch/i386/boot

Oh, and if you are building an new kernel from the same generation (example, 2.4.18 and you are building 2.4.18) as the kernel that shipped with your distro, then you will want to edit the /lib/modules/2.4.18(or whatever kernel) directory. Maybe something like: 'mv /lib/modules/2.4.18 /lib/modules/2.4.18.old' would be what you would want to use.

Don't know if it's too late now :(

Good luck

Thanks MasterC!
But I'd still like to know when should I write the make bzImage command?

usually thisis how to compile a kernel:

1) make menuconfig OR make xconfig
2) make dep
3) make clean
4) make bzImage
5) make modules
6) make modules_install

make sure to rename the old kernel image located in the /boot direcytory to something else, like vmlinuz.old, so that you can use it as a backup.

mv /boot/vmlinuz /boot/vmlinuz.old

then copy the bzImage file from arch/i386/boot to /boot directory, with the following command:

cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz

make bzImage is a step that must come AFTER make dep and make clean, but is up to you where you run it after that, but it must be run.

The above how to written by Sfin is a very good one, and one that you should follow most of the time, it works especially well with Slack.

There is another website that has the how-to that I follow (with the 1 exception that I run make bzImage last)(It's actually Aussie's website;)):
http://www.p-two.net/modules.php?op=...catid=&topic=3

Thanks Sfin and MasterC!

No problem, glad I/we could help ;)