Tim wrote:
On Fri, 2006-03-17 at 10:31 -0800, John Wendel wrote:
I run kernel 2.6.15.6 from kernel.org on my FC3 systems. Works fine
for me on some Intel and AMD based boxes, but as they say, your
mileage may vary.
Just for the sake of curiosity, was that difficult to do? I was of the
understanding that Red Hat extensively customised kernels for their own
distributions.
Difficult? No, actually the process is fairly entertaining.
I think you're correct that RH applies a lot of kernel patches, but I've
never bothered. If they're really needed, then Linus would have pulled
them into the "standard" kernel. For a simple desktop box the standard
kernel works just fine. I'm sure you can find some nice kernel building
instructions on the web. I just download the kernel.org kernel and
latest patch file, untar, patch, run "make oldconfig", "make", "make
modules_install" and "make install". Cross fingers and reboot. Usually
it works fine. I keep the latest Fedora kernel to boot from if the new
one fails. It hasn't failed in a long time.
The hard part is getting a working kernel .config file. You can start
with the Fedora config file (found in /boot), copy it into your kernel
source directory, rename it ".config" and run "make menuconfig" to
customize it. Be prepared to config / build / boot several times until
you get it right. Remember that the Fedora/RH kernels are built to run
on every hardware configuration imaginable. You can save some kernel
memory and disk space by omitting all the modules for hardware that you
don't have. There isn't any point in building your own kernel if you
just use the Fedora config file. Experiment, break something!
You can also help everyone by testing the latest development kernels and
reporting bugs. If you want to get into this, you need to subscribe to
the kernel developers mailing list, linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Just
don't post anything stupid because those guys tend to be less friendly
than everyone here on the Fedora list.
Regards,
John
