lfs-book/chapter08/kernel.xml

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<sect1 id="ch-bootable-kernel" role="wrap">
<title>Linux-&linux-version;</title>
<?dbhtml filename="kernel.html"?>

<indexterm zone="ch-bootable-kernel"><primary sortas="a-Linux">Linux</primary></indexterm>

<sect2 role="package"><title/>
<para>The Linux package contains the Linux kernel.</para>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>&buildtime;</segtitle>
<segtitle>&diskspace;</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>4.20 SBU</seg>
<seg>181 MB</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>&dependencies;</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>Bash, Binutils, Coreutils, Findutils,
GCC, Glibc, Grep, Gzip, Make, Modutils, Perl, and Sed</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>
</sect2>

<sect2 role="installation">
<title>Installation of the kernel</title>

<para>Building the kernel involves a few steps&mdash;configuration, compilation,
and installation. Read the <filename>README</filename> file in the kernel source
tree for alternative methods to the way this book configures the kernel.</para>

<para>Prepare for compilation by running the following command:</para>

<screen><userinput>make mrproper</userinput></screen>

<para>This ensures that the kernel tree is absolutely clean. The
kernel team recommends that this command be issued prior to each
kernel compilation. Do not rely on the source tree being clean after
un-tarring.</para>

<para>If, in <xref linkend="ch-scripts-console" role=","/> it was decided to
compile the keymap into the kernel, issue the command below:</para>

<screen><userinput>loadkeys -m /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/<replaceable>[path to  keymap]</replaceable> &gt; \
    drivers/char/defkeymap.c</userinput></screen>

<para>For example, if using a Dutch keyboard, use
<filename>/usr/share/kbd/keymaps/i386/qwerty/nl.map.gz</filename>.</para>

<para>Configure the kernel via a menu-driven interface. BLFS has some
information regarding particular kernel configuration requirements of
packages outside of LFS at <ulink
url="&blfs-root;view/svn/longindex.html#kernel-config-index"/>:</para>

<screen><userinput>make menuconfig</userinput></screen>

<para>Alternatively, <command>make oldconfig</command> may be more appropriate in some
situations. See the <filename>README</filename> file for more
information.</para>

<note><para>When configuring the kernel, be sure to enable the <quote>Support
for hot-pluggable devices</quote> option under the <quote>General Setup</quote>
menu. This enables hotplug events that are used by <command>udev</command> to
populate the <filename class="directory">/dev</filename> directory with device
nodes. Likewise, enable the <quote>Virtual memory file system support</quote>
option under the <quote>File systems</quote>/<quote>Pseudo filesystems</quote>
menu. This enables the virtual filesystem that the <filename
class="directory">/dev</filename> directory will be mounted on.</para></note>

<para>If desired, skip kernel configuration by copying the kernel
config file, <filename>.config</filename>, from the host system
(assuming it is available) to the unpacked <filename
class="directory">linux-&linux-version;</filename> directory. However,
we do not recommend this option. It is often better to explore all the
configuration menus and create the kernel configuration from
scratch.</para>

<note><para>NPTL requires the kernel to be compiled with GCC 3.x, in
this case &gcc-version;. Compiling with 2.95.x is known to cause failures in
the glibc test suite, so it is not recommended to compile the kernel
with gcc 2.95.x.</para></note>

<para>Compile the kernel image and modules:</para>

<screen><userinput>make</userinput></screen>

<para>If using kernel modules, an <filename>/etc/modprobe.conf</filename> file
may be needed. Information pertaining to modules and kernel configuration is
located in the kernel documentation in the <filename
class="directory">linux-&linux-version;/Documentation</filename> directory. The
<emphasis>modprobe.conf</emphasis> <command>man</command> page may also be of
interest.</para>

<para>Be very careful when reading other documentation relating to kernel
modules because it usually applies to 2.4.x kernels only. As far as we know,
kernel configuration issues specific to Hotplug and Udev are not documented.
The problem is that Udev will create a device node only if Hotplug or a
user-written script inserts the corresponding module into the kernel, and not
all modules are detectable by Hotplug. Note that statements like the one below
in the <filename>/etc/modprobe.conf</filename> file do not work with
Udev:</para>

<para><screen>alias char-major-XXX some-module</screen></para>

<para>Because of the complications with Hotplug, Udev, and modules, we
strongly recommend starting with a completely non-modular kernel
configuration, especially if this is the first time using Udev.</para>

<para>Install the modules, if the kernel configuration uses them:</para>

<screen><userinput>make modules_install</userinput></screen>

<para>After kernel compilation is complete, additional steps are
required to complete the installation. Some files need to be copied to
the <filename class="directory">/boot</filename> directory.</para>

<para>The path to the kernel image may vary depending on the platform
being used. The following command assumes an x86 architecture:</para>

<screen><userinput>cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/lfskernel-&linux-version;</userinput></screen>

<para><filename>System.map</filename> is a symbol file for the kernel.
It maps the function entry points of every function in the kernel API,
as well as the addresses of the kernel data structures for the running
kernel. Issue the following command to install the map file:</para>

<screen><userinput>cp System.map /boot/System.map-&linux-version;</userinput></screen>

<para>The kernel configuration file <filename>.config</filename>
produced by the <command>make menuconfig</command> step
above contains all the configuration selections for the kernel
that was just compiled. It is a good idea to keep this file for future
reference:</para>

<screen><userinput>cp .config /boot/config-&linux-version;</userinput></screen>

<para>It is important to note that the files in the kernel source
directory are not owned by <emphasis>root</emphasis>. Whenever a
package is unpacked as user <emphasis>root</emphasis> (like we did
inside chroot), the files have the user and group IDs of whatever
they were on the packager's computer. This is usually not a problem
for any other package to be installed because the source tree is
removed after the installation. However, the Linux source tree is
often retained for a long time.  Because of this, there is a chance
that whatever user ID the packager used will be assigned to somebody
on the machine. That person would then have write access to the kernel
source.</para>

<para>If the kernel source tree is going to be retained, run
<command>chown -R 0:0</command> on the <filename
class="directory">linux-&linux-version;</filename> directory to ensure
all files are owned by user <emphasis>root</emphasis>.</para>

<warning><para>Some kernel documentation recommends creating a symlink from
<filename class="symlink">/usr/src/linux</filename> pointing to the kernel
source directory.  This is specific to kernels prior to the 2.6 series and
<emphasis>must not</emphasis> be created on an LFS system as it can cause
problems for packages you may wish to build once your base LFS system is
complete.</para>

<para>Also, the headers in the system's
<filename class="directory">include</filename> directory should
<emphasis>always</emphasis> be the ones against which Glibc was compiled,
that is, the ones from the Linux-Libc-Headers package, and therefore, should
<emphasis>never</emphasis> be replaced by the kernel headers.</para></warning>

</sect2>


<sect2 id="contents-kernel" role="content"><title>Contents of Linux</title>

<segmentedlist>
<segtitle>Installed files</segtitle>
<seglistitem><seg>config-&linux-version;, lfskernel-&linux-version;,
and System.map-&linux-version;</seg></seglistitem>
</segmentedlist>

<variablelist><bridgehead renderas="sect3">Short Descriptions</bridgehead>
<?dbfo list-presentation="list"?>
<?dbhtml list-presentation="table"?>

<varlistentry id="config">
<term><filename>config-&linux-version;</filename></term>
<listitem>
<para>Contains all the configuration selections for the kernel</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-bootable-kernel config"><primary sortas="e-/boot/config">/boot/config-&linux-version;</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="lfskernel">
<term><filename>lfskernel-&linux-version;</filename></term>
<listitem>
<para>The engine of the Linux system. When turning on the computer,
the kernel is the first part of the operating system that gets loaded.
It detects and initializes all components of the computer's hardware,
then makes these components available as a tree of files to the
software and turns a single CPU into a multitasking machine capable
of running scores of programs seemingly at the same time</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-bootable-kernel lfskernel"><primary sortas="b-lfskernel">lfskernel-&linux-version;</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry id="System.map">
<term><filename>System.map-&linux-version;</filename></term>
<listitem>
<para>A list of addresses and symbols; it maps the entry points and
addresses of all the functions and data structures in the
kernel</para>
<indexterm zone="ch-bootable-kernel System.map"><primary sortas="e-/boot/System.map">/boot/System.map-&linux-version;</primary></indexterm>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>

</sect2>

</sect1>