Thanks for all the help guys -- I'm upto speed now with my new, stable 2.4.2
kernel. Here's a little writeup on what I found helpful in my first new kernel
compile. (The actual kernel compile process is documented in the README file under
/usr/src/linux-xxx/. )
I upgraded from kernel 2.2.16-22 (Redhat's variant of 2.2.16) to kernel 2.4.2
My first attempt at building the kernel resulted in a slow kernel and a long
build process. I figured that copying the settings from my old kernel would help.
As described by Ian in an earlier post, I copied
/usr/src/linux-2.2.16/configs/kernel-2.2.16-i686.config to ".config"
under the new /usr/src/linux-2.4.2/ directory. After this, I ran 'make oldconfig'
which allowed me to change new options. The rest of the compile process was simple
and worked great.
There was a slight hiccup though -- I needed to change my processor type from 686
(the old designation for PPro/PIII in the 2.2 kernel) to Pentium III
(this was needed for picking PIII Multimedia optimisations for DRI under X 4.0.2)
'make oldconfig' picked up the earlier processor type and just skipped
past this step. I first edited the .config file by hand after 'make oldconfig' step.
Later , I realised that the 'make xconfig' graphical interface allowed me to
load a config file. So all my subsequent compiles were with 'make xconfig'... I
just loaded the 2.2.16 config file to get my existing kernel config, and could
then change both the new and old options.
Well the things I found helpful :
0. Update the modutils package before updating the 2.2 kernel to 2.4
1. If this the first time building a kernel, use your previous kernel
settings as shown above to get a feel of the useful features.
2. Use 'make xconfig' under X... it's handy having Google in one window
and the kernel configurator in another.
3. Don't be ashamed of turning on 'experimental/incomplete' features
(the first button) for performance (the main distros do so too)
4. If you compile something that's meant to run under the new kernel
(like DRI support under X) change the /usr/src/linux to point to your
new kernel.
Thanks all! And kind regards,
Sonam
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