discuss: Thread: Re: Kernel-HOWTO

On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 12:18:02AM +0000, John Levon wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 04:43:12AM +0530, rahul wrote:
> 
> > Since the howtos have been removed off the collection we should work towards 
> > replacing them. Of all the howtos in the collection  I believe the kernel 
> > howto is something that should be worked on as soon as possible. Since the

FWIW, I agree with rahul, and although I fall behind on this list I did
make a post about it on Usenet today.

> > Is anybody up for the task?
> 
> I will be happy to help review a rewritten/resurrected kernel HOWTO for
> style and technical content, time permitting. I know a fair bit about
> the kernel and the build system.

I don't think I'm the right one to be the principal author / maintainer
of this, but I'll repeat my pledge from Usenet: to contribute a WHYTO
section for the new document (and of course to assist in review.)

    Rob - /dev/rob0


PS: When Google catches up my post will be found here:

On Saturday 15 November 2003 05:12, Rob McGee wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 12:18:02AM +0000, John Levon wrote:
> > On Thu, Nov 13, 2003 at 04:43:12AM +0530, rahul wrote:
> > > Since the howtos have been removed off the collection we should work
> > > towards replacing them. Of all the howtos in the collection  I believe
> > > the kernel howto is something that should be worked on as soon as
> > > possible. Since the
>
> FWIW, I agree with rahul, and although I fall behind on this list I did
> make a post about it on Usenet today.

please post a copy over here and a draft. we can work on this together. I am 
no kernel expert either. the fact is the experts are too busy developing 
stuff to document it and we cant let non developers go without good 
documentation. googling is getting too tiresome sometimes. i am sure others 
would post their feedback

regards
rahul sundaram

On Sat, Nov 15, 2003 at 05:58:35AM +0530, rahul wrote:

> please post a copy over here and a draft. we can work on this together. I am 
> no kernel expert either. the fact is the experts are too busy developing 
> stuff to document it

This is not necessarily true... there are people sitting here waiting
for a good rewrite to come along that we can review.

Like me :)

regards
john

-- 
Khendon's Law:
If the same point is made twice by the same person, the thread is over.

hi

>   Anyhoo, I had been working on updating my own notes on the subject. It
> is not as ambitious as the kernel howto that existed here and is not
> really a suitable replacement, but I thought you may find parts useful.
> Please excuse the DocBook butchery as I've only been using it for a day
> now (though I'm familiar with LaTeX).

checkout lyx.org

>
>   http://www.digitalhermit.com/~kwan/kernel.ps
>
> The 2.4 configuration will come directly from my previous guide at:
>
>   http://www.digitalhermit.com/linux/kernel.html


start with a small introduction on the what the kernel is and why one should 
consider customising or upgrading it. 

what is a kernel?

"A kernel is core of an operating system like the engine of a car which does 
all the hard work " is the analogy is use. 


  > uname -r
  2.2.16-3
  > mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0H1440 2.2.16-3

mkbootdisk `uname -r`

would be sufficient in most of the cases

isnt mkbootdisk a redhat specific utility. debian uses some other stuff.
check that.

its very much a hands on article. i like the quick and fast approach. please 
refer the kerneltrap.org article about linux 2.6. differences in the build 
procedures should be hightlighted. upgrading using redhat and debian's 
methods should also be mentioned. 

At (time_t)75806108= rahul wrote:

> debian uses some other stuff.

A couple of links:

   http://www.tux.org/~tbr/debiankernelpkg/
   http://www.debian.org/doc/FAQ/ch-kernel.en.html

-John

Hello,

On Sat, 15 Nov 2003 05:58:35 +0530
rahul ####@####.#### wrote:
> please post a copy over here and a draft. we can work on this together. I am 
> no kernel expert either. the fact is the experts are too busy developing 
> stuff to document it and we cant let non developers go without good 
> documentation. googling is getting too tiresome sometimes. i am sure others 
> would post their feedback

IIRC, there's a document presenting new stable kernel features, options, etc.
released with each major version.
I can't remember who the author is or what the title may be (being
connectionless at the moment I can't check) but I'm sure it'd provide a good
basis to start a kernel howto.

But besides the obvious (make menuconfig, mrproper/clean, bzImage, modules,
modules_install) it should also present individual options, kernel installation
(grub/lilo/floppy) and how to make different versions live together on one
system (removing shippend /usr/include/linux/{asm, scsi, net}, symlinking to
/usr/src/linux, symlinking the current kernel source tree from
/usr/src/linux-xxx to /usr/src/linux ...)

I came to that conclusion after writing 2 articles where I had to briefly talk
about kernel recompilation.

Best regards,
Guylhem


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