[PLUG] Kernel Compiling

[Karl M. Hegbloom]

On Mon, 2002-11-25 at 18:39, Paul Heinlein wrote:
> The only exception to the "grab the kernel.org tarball" would be the 
> case where you rely on a patch set that Red Hat has made to work: 
> user-mode Linux, LVM, crypto API, blue tooth, gigabit-over-copper 
> ethernet, or what-have-you. In that case, I'd recommend just using Red 
> Hat's build rather than struggling long and hard for the pretty 
> dubious return of duplicating Red Hat's stock kernel.

This is another part of the kernel building process in which Debian's
system really shines.  Not only are there "kernel-source-<version>"
packages (which only install a Linux source .tar.bz2, not the Debian
kernel building setup, which is installed by the "kernel-package"
package), there are many "kernel-patch-*" packages.

Kernel patch packages are generated by a special script, found in
"dh-kpatches".  They install the patch itself, as a "diff -u", in
"/usr/src/kernel-patches/{all,i386,sparc,ppc,...}/<patchname>/".  Also,
in "/usr/src/kernel-patches/{all,i386,...}/{apply,unpatch}/<patchname>",
are shell scripts that apply the named patch or unpatch the kernel in
your PWD.  Those scripts can be run automaticly by "make-kpkg", if you
like.

This is a really nice setup.  It makes it very easy to install a
customized kernel on several machines, or to get one running with well
tested and reasonably stable patches for XFS, FreeSwan IPSEC, or EVMS.

Debian really is very well set up for the non-casual Linux user, server
admin, and developer.