-
2 Be sure to download the full source by clicking on the "F" where it says "The latest stable version is..."
otherwise youll just download the patch, which is used when your
current kernel is a patch number lower. An example of this would be
3.4.4.1>>3.4.4.2
3 Make sure you have downloaded the complete source code, and not a patch or change log.
4
Once downloaded, open a terminal.
5 Now we need to extract the kernel. Use these commands.
- tar xjvf kernel (Here -j option is for bz2 compression)
6 Once extracted, move into the directory (in the terminal) that was created.
7Conf igure the kernel. There are 3 common ways to do this.
- make oldconfig -- asks you questions on what the kernel should support one by one, very time consuming.
- make menuconfig -- creates a menu where you can browse options on
what the kernel supports. Requires ncurses library, but that is likely
already on your computer.
- make qconfig/xconfig/gconfig -- same as menuconfig, except that now
the configuration menu is graphics based."qconfig" Requires the QT
library.
8 Once the configuration
window is opened, you will see that a specific type of configuration is
already selected like support for essential drivers like Broadcom
wireless support/EXT4 filesystem etc. Further, you may customize the
options like adding support for your specific type of
device/controller/driver like you may add support for NTFS file system
from "Filesystem >> DOS/FAT/NT/ >> select NTFS file system
support, thereby taking full advantage of custom kernel.
9 NOTE: While
configuring the kernel, you will see a section known as kernel
hacking(by hacking we mean exploring into it), where different types of
options are given for hacking into kernel and learning it. If you want
to use it then you may add further options, otherwise you may disable
the option "kernel debugging", as it makes the kernel a lot heavier and
and may be improper to use in the production environment.
10 Once configured, it is time to compile and install the kernel. You will need to execute these commands in order. This may take a long time.
- make (-j option may also be added to fork additional processes for
compiling kernel, syntax would be "make -j 3" 3 here represents the
number of processes to be created)
- make modules_install
- make install
11 now go grab some coffee cause this is going to take a while.
on a modern (-5 years old) computer this will take at least 20 minutes.
you can make your life easier by entering your commands all at once.
this is done by using the ampersand (&) symnbol
- make && make modules_install && make install
12 So the kernel is installed, but you need to make it bootable.
13 Go to /boot
14 Run this command "mkinitrd -o initrd.img-<kernelversion>
<kernelversion>" (For Redhat based distros, you need not create
initrd, as it is created by default) remembering to replace
<kernelverison> with the version number of the kernel you build.
15 Point the boot loader at the new kernel so it can be started. Use the tool that came with your distro to configure your bootloader. Add a new entry for the new kernel.
16 Reboot and enjoy your customized kernel!
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