lin q wrote:
Hi,
I am to run "make menuconfig", the options are so huge, i am afraid to make mistakes and hard to figure out in later period.
My host currently runs Fedora Core 1, I wonder if somewhere I can find a good reference to config the kernel? Image that in installing, Fedora already figured out the correct config...
Thanks.
Here's my own "Beginners" guide to kernel configuration.
1) Use the help documentation (when in menuconfig, hit the ? key) - often in the description of the different options, it will say "If unsure, say blah" - follow this advice
2) On a machine for which I've never compiled a kernel before, I *ALWAYS* boot up a Knoppix CD first, and run /sbin/lsmod. Since Knoppix compiles most of it's support as modules, and has extremely good hardware detection, using this option will often tell you just which drivers will work for the different pieces of your system, and that's better than half the battle.
3) Until you become more comfortable with compiling the kernel, don't use modules - compile everything into the kernel - it definately makes things a lot easier.
4) Whatever filesystem you have used for your root filesystem (ext2, ext3, reiserfs, xfs, jfs) must be compiled into the kernel. Make sure you also enable the /proc virtual filesystem (that's a default option usually), and the tmpfs filesystem (sometimes called shmfs as well)
5) Sometimes, but not always, on your host you'll find a file "/proc/config.gz" - this will contain a compressed copy of the config file for that kernel - you can utilize this by doing "zcat /proc/config.gz > .config" followed by "make oldconfig"
There you go, a few tips to hopefully get you on your way - after a few times, you'll become an old hand at kernel compilation.
-J-
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