Kernel Configuration - Part II

Kernel Configuration - Part II

Kernel configuration in Linux is not nearly as intimidating as it might seem. It does, however, require a bit of knowledge of your system hardware and a general plan as to how you’re going to use the machine.

The source code for the Linux kernel is located (in most distributions) in /usr/src/linux. In RedHat, you’re likely to find the source in /usr/src/linux-x.x, where x represents the kernel version. I’ve always created a symbolic link to this directory with the following command:

    ln -s /usr/src/linux-x.x /usr/src/linux

There’s no real reason for doing this, quite honestly, other than reduced typing and comfort. It’s not a requirement for configuring your kernel.

You can find the latest kernel source at kernel.org. When I’m ready for a kernel recompile, I generally make it a practice to download the latest stable kernel source from kernel.org. That way, I know I’m getting all the latest and greatest while manintaining stability. If, in fact, I download the latest source from kernel.org, there’s no need to create a symbolic link. Instead, as root, I simply untar and unzip the kernel source into the /usr/src directory. This creates the /linux subdirectory, which will contain all the source code.

Another caveat in kernel configuration for RedHat. If you want the default kernel source when you install your RedHat system, you’ll need to explicitly install it. By default, RedHat does not install kernel source.

Once you’ve got the kernel source you’d like to use for your recompile, you have a choice of three methods for configuration. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the advantages and disadvantages of make config, make menuconfig and make xconfig.