lfs-book/chapter08/kernel.xml

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<sect1 id="ch-bootable-kernel" role="wrap">
  <?dbhtml filename="kernel.html"?>

  <sect1info condition="script">
    <productname>linux</productname>
    <productnumber>&linux-version;</productnumber>
    <address>&linux-url;</address>
  </sect1info>

  <title>Linux-&linux-version;</title>

  <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>&linux-ch8-sbu;</seg>
        <seg>&linux-ch8-du;</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 remap="pre">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>

    <!-- Support for compiling a keymap into the kernel is deliberately removed -->

    <para>Configure the kernel via a menu-driven interface. For general
    information on kernel configuration see <ulink
    url="&hints-root;kernel-configuration.txt"/>.  BLFS has some information
    regarding particular kernel configuration requirements of packages outside
    of LFS at <ulink
    url="&blfs-book;longindex.html#kernel-config-index"/>.  Additional
    information about configuring and building the kernel can be found at
    <ulink url="http://www.kroah.com/lkn/"/> </para>

    <note><para>A good starting place for setting up the kernel configuration
    is to run <command>make defconfig</command>. This will set the base
    configuration to a good state that takes your current system architecture
    into account.</para>

    <para>Be sure to configure the following features as shown:</para>

        <screen role="nodump">
Device Drivers  ---&gt;
  Generic Driver Options  ---&gt;
    [ ] Support for uevent helper [CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER]
    [*] Maintain a devtmpfs filesystem to mount at /dev [CONFIG_DEVTMPFS]</screen></note>

    <para>There are several other options that may be desired depending
    on the requirements for the system. For a list of options needed
    for BLFS packages, see the <ulink 
    url="&lfs-root;blfs/view/&short-version;/longindex.html#kernel-config-index">BLFS 
    Index of Kernel Settings</ulink> 
    (&lfs-root;blfs/view/&short-version;/longindex.html#kernel-config-index).</para>

    <variablelist>
      <title>The rationale for the above configuration items:</title>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>Support for uevent helper</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>Having this opion set may interfere with device
          management when using Udev/Eudev. </para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>Maintain a devtmpfs</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This will create automated device nodes which are populated by the
          kernel, even without Udev running.  Udev then runs on top of this,
          managing permissions and adding symlinks.  This configuration
          item is required for all users of Udev/Eudev.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

<screen role="nodump"><userinput>make LANG=<replaceable>&lt;host_LANG_value&gt;</replaceable> LC_ALL= menuconfig</userinput></screen>

    <variablelist>
      <title>The meaning of the make parameters:</title>

      <varlistentry>
        <term><parameter>LANG=&lt;host_LANG_value&gt; LC_ALL=</parameter></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>This establishes the locale setting to the one used on the host.
          This is needed for a proper menuconfig ncurses interface line
          drawing on UTF-8 linux text console.</para>

          <para>Be sure to replace <replaceable>&lt;host_LANG_value&gt;</replaceable>
          by the value of the <envar>$LANG</envar> variable from your host.
          If not set, you could use instead the host's value of <envar>$LC_ALL</envar>
          or <envar>$LC_CTYPE</envar>.</para>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

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

    <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>

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

<screen><userinput remap="make">make</userinput></screen>

    <para>If using kernel modules, module configuration in <filename
    class="directory">/etc/modprobe.d</filename> may be required.
    Information pertaining to modules and kernel configuration is
    located in <xref linkend="ch-scripts-udev"/> and in the kernel
    documentation in the <filename
    class="directory">linux-&linux-version;/Documentation</filename> directory.
    Also, <filename>modprobe.d(5)</filename> may be of interest.</para>

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

<screen><userinput remap="install">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 filename below can be changed to suit your taste, but the stem of
    the filename should be <emphasis>vmlinuz</emphasis> to be compatible with
    the automatic setup of the boot process described in the next section.  The
    following command assumes an x86 architecture:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="install">cp -v arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-&linux-version;-lfs-&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.  It is used as a resource when investigating kernel problems.
    Issue the following command to install the map file:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="install">cp -v 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 remap="install">cp -v .config /boot/config-&linux-version;</userinput></screen>

    <para>Install the documentation for the Linux kernel:</para>

<screen><userinput remap="install">install -d /usr/share/doc/linux-&linux-version;
cp -r Documentation/* /usr/share/doc/linux-&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>

    <note>
      <para>In many cases, the configuration of the kernel will need to be 
      updated for packages that will be installed later in BLFS.  Unlike
      other packages, it is not necessary to remove the kernel source tree
      after the newly built kernel is installed.</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>
    </note>

    <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>
    </warning>

    <warning>
      <para>The headers in the system's <filename
      class="directory">include</filename> directory (<filename
      class="directory">/usr/include</filename>) should
      <emphasis>always</emphasis> be the ones against which Glibc was compiled,
      that is, the sanitised headers installed in <xref
      linkend="ch-system-linux-headers"/>.  Therefore, they should
      <emphasis>never</emphasis> be replaced by either the raw kernel headers
      or any other kernel sanitized headers.</para>
    </warning>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 id="conf-modprobe" role="configuration">
    <title>Configuring Linux Module Load Order</title>

    <indexterm zone="conf-modprobe">
      <primary sortas="e-/etc/modprobe.d/usb.conf">/etc/modprobe.d/usb.conf</primary>
    </indexterm>

    <para>Most of the time Linux modules are loaded automatically, but
    sometimes it needs some specific direction.  The program that loads
    modules, <command>modprobe</command> or <command>insmod</command>, uses
    <filename>/etc/modprobe.d/usb.conf</filename> for this purpose.  This file
    needs to be created so that if the USB drivers (ehci_hcd, ohci_hcd and
    uhci_hcd) have been built as modules, they will be loaded in the correct
    order; ehci_hcd needs to be loaded prior to ohci_hcd and uhci_hcd in order
    to avoid a warning being output at boot time.</para>

    <para>Create a new file <filename>/etc/modprobe.d/usb.conf</filename> by running
    the following:</para>

<screen><userinput>install -v -m755 -d /etc/modprobe.d
cat &gt; /etc/modprobe.d/usb.conf &lt;&lt; "EOF"
<literal># Begin /etc/modprobe.d/usb.conf

install ohci_hcd /sbin/modprobe ehci_hcd ; /sbin/modprobe -i ohci_hcd ; true
install uhci_hcd /sbin/modprobe ehci_hcd ; /sbin/modprobe -i uhci_hcd ; true

# End /etc/modprobe.d/usb.conf</literal>
EOF</userinput></screen>

  </sect2>

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

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>Installed files</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed directories</segtitle>

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>config-&linux-version;,
        vmlinuz-&linux-version;-lfs-&version;, and
        System.map-&linux-version;</seg>
        <seg>/lib/modules, /usr/share/doc/linux-&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>vmlinuz-&linux-version;-lfs-&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>