Some questions about the 'compiling a kernel' section at slackbook.org

athanatos · 07-15-2006, 09:27 AM

Code:

# mv /boot/vmlinuz /boot/vmlinuz.old
# cat arch/i386/boot/bzImage > /vmlinuz
# mv /boot/System.map /boot/System.map.old
# cp System.map /boot/System.map
# make modules_install

Here are my questions:

1.

Why does it say:

Code:

# cat arch/i386/boot/bzImage > /vmlinuz

and not

Code:

# cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage > /vmlinuz

2.

Why is the kernel image placed in / and not in /boot:

Code:

# rm /boot/vmlinuz
# cat arch/i386/boot/bzImage > /boot/vmlinuz-x.y.z
# cd /boot
# ln -s vmlinuz-x.y.z vmlinuz

3.

Code:

# make modules_install

Currently I have the linux-2.6.13 kernel from /pub/slackware/slackware-10.2/testing/packages/linux-2.6.13 installed. I compile a new kernel with lots of new modules. When I would like to switch back to the linux-2.6.13 kernel, how to be sure that I have the same modules like I had before 'make modules_install'? I mean, do I have to copy the config from /boot/config-generic-2.6.13 to /usr/src/linux/.config and do the following:

Code:

# make modules
# make modules_install

Or is it enough to just reinstall the package 'kernel-modules-2.6.13-i486-1.tgz'?

bathory · 07-15-2006, 10:12 AM

1. It's the same thing
2. I guess it's a typo. Unless it says to change your /etc/lilo.conf accordingly, the correct place is /boot
3. If you (re)compile the same kernel, adding new modules, then the old ones stay intacted. If you compile a new kernel, it's modules go under /lib/modules/<kernel-version>/

I suggest you to not delete the old kernel before being sure that your new one is working as you expect it to do.

Regards