Following: http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/tutorials/6853/1 and http://www.sysdesign.ca/guides/linux_kernel.html and very much http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hoary/main/installer-ia64/current/doc/manual/en/ch08s04.html
Update: added kernel_headers
I've added very litte to the guides, except proving that yes, the above tutorial works for the current stable kernel version (3.2.8) and the current debian testing (29/12/2012).
Here's what's new in 3.2.8 -- https://lwn.net/Articles/484042/
Here's what will be new in 3.3 -- http://www.h-online.com/open/features/Kernel-Log-Linux-3-3-goes-into-testing-1418516.html
Everything between SAFE START and END are ok -- they won't change anything serious on your system. If you're building on a 32 bit system, have a look at the end of the post before launching the make.
-- SAFE START --
Install tools:
sudo apt-get install kernel-package fakeroot
(if you use apt-bugs you may get a warning about an lguest bug. Ignore it. Look at the bottom of the post for 32 bit issues and a simple solution.)
Get the latest STABLE release from http://kernel.org/
wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.2.8.tar.bz2
It's 75 M and will take a wee while.
tar -xvf linux-3.2.8.tar.bz2
cd linux-3.2.8/
To get a head-start on a configuration file, see if you have one for your current kernel:
ls /boot/config-`uname -r`
If so (I know this is clunky, but the obvious solutions didn't work...)
echo "/boot/config-`uname -r` "|xargs cat > .config
I'm running 3.2.0-1.
Alright. Here's the thing. You shouldn't edit .config unless you know what you're doing. But then how will you ever learn? I don't yet know what I'm doing, so won't lead you into kernel-configuration related temptation.
Instead, we'll just learn how to build.
First
make oldconfig
which uses the .config
But it's not completely automatic -- when it comes to new features you'll have to provide input. Hitting enter i.e. accepting the default option is probably a good idea unless you think otherwise.
Alternatively, you do
make menuconfig
and pick everything you want
Here are the new features in 3.2.8 vs 3.2.0-1:
Cirrus Logic (Sound Fusion) New DSP support (SND_CS46XX_NEW_DSP) [Y/n/?] (NEW)Y means compile into kernel, m makes a loadable module and no means no.
Agere Systems HERMES II Wireless PC Card Model 0110 (WLAGS49_H2) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Linksys HERMES II.5 WCF54G_Wireless-G_CompactFlash_Card (WLAGS49_H25) [N/m/?] (NEW)
Now build!
make-kpkg clean
The next step takes forever, in particular if you only use one core (>1 h). It takes ca 50 minutes on an i5 with the -j5 switch. You'll also need around 6.5 Gb of free space for the compilation.
fakeroot make-kpkg -j4 --initrd --revision=3.2.8 kernel_image kernel_headers
where as usual 4 is the number of cores(3)+1. Adjust as necessary.
This really isn't dangerous, although you may not want to do it remotely without a back-up plan.
Install with
sudo dpkg -i ../linux-image-3.2.8_3.2.8_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i ../linux-headers-3.2.8_3.2.8_amd64.deb
That's it! You don't even have to bother with update-grub.
Reboot at your convenience and admire your handiwork:
uname -a
Linux boron 3.2.8 #2 SMP Wed Feb 29 19:27:04 EST 2012 x86_64 GNU/Lin
The deb built this way is ca 33 M, while the stock debian 3.2.0--1 is a slim 23 M.
Once you're confident that you can compile and install a kernel without mishap you can start to remove kernel modules to make it slimmer -- or start including modules of your own choosing.
Tried and tested on:
AMD Athlon II X3 (64 bit)
2 x AMD Phenom II X6 (64 bit)
Intel i5-2400 (64 bit)
Intel core 2 duo T5870 (laptop, 64 bit)
Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz (32 bit)
-- all running debian testing.
Building on 32 bit
I had some issues on an Intel Celeron 1.6 GHz 32 bit due to a bug:
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/me/tmp/linux-3.2.8'
/usr/bin/make ARCH=i386 \
-C Documentation/lguest
make: *** Documentation/lguest: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [debian/stamp/build/kernel] Error 2
The failure was pretty annoying...
real 157m58.192s
user 132m27.049s
sys 12m5.589s
There's a simple solution in a forum post at http://billy.com.mx/archives/660:
"I solved it by creating a symlink Documentation/lguest to Documentation/virtual/lguest"that means (on one line)
ln -s /home/me/tmp/linux-3.2.8/Documentation/virtual/lguest Documentation/lguest
That's all.
Check:
ls Documentation/lguest -lah
Documentation/lguest -> /home/me/tmp/linux-3.2.8/Documentation/virtual/lguest
ls Documentation/lguest/
extract lguest.c lguest.txt Makefile
And once it's installed:
uname -a
Linux kookaburra 3.2.8 #3 SMP Thu Mar 1 14:43:45 EST 2012 i686 GNU/Linu
Modules
To get a list over the modules in use on your current system:
lsmod | gawk '{printf("%s ",$1)}'| sed 's/Module//g'
zlib_deflate crc32c libcrc32c ufs qnx4 hfsplus hfs minix ntfs vfat msdos fat jfs xfs reiserfs ext3 jbd ext2 pci_stub vbok8 mperf cpufreq_stats cpufreq_conservative cpufreq_powersave cpufreq_userspace ppdev bnep rfcomm bluetooth binfmt_misc as nfs_acl sunrpc kvm_amd kvm xt_state ipt_REJECT ipt_LOG xt_limit xt_tcpudp xt_conntrack iptable_mangle ipt_MASQUERADE ip
le_filter ip_tables x_tables hwmon_vid lp loop snd_hda_codec_hdmi arc4 rt2800usb rt2800lib crc_ccitt rt2x00usb rt2x00lib xer_oss snd_usb_audio snd_pcm snd_hwdep snd_usbmidi_lib nvidia hid_logitech_dj mac80211 joydev snd_seq_midi cfg80211 rfki5100_tco snd_timer snd_seq_device edac_core edac_mce_amd parport_pc parport snd i2c_piix4 soundcore pcspkr k10temp i2c_combcache jbd2 crc16 usb_storage uas sd_mod crc_t10dif ata_generic pata_atiixp ohci_hcd thermal thermal_sys floppy ahci lib
You can use that as a source of inspiration for what to keep and what to trim.
