[TriLUG] Newbie: Kernel Question

Jeremy Portzer jeremyp at pobox.com
Thu Oct 16 21:06:20 EDT 2003


Hello,

If you wish to build your own custom kernel, the file you want is
kernel-source-2.4.20-20.9.i386.rpm .  The kernel-2.4.20-20.9.src.rpm is
an "SRPM" that is used by Red Hat and Red Hat packagers to build the
distribution kernel.  Using this file is pretty confusing for new users.

So if you want to build a custom kernel, use
kernel-source-2.4.20-20.9.i386.rpm .  The fact that this  is a "binary"
RPM is a bit strange because it actually contains source files; this is
an anomoly.  The i386 part doesn't mean much, because when you configure
your custom kernel, you will select the processor type.

Building a custom kernel can be quite confusing, but I highly recommend
the directions here from the Red Hat Linux documentation:
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-9-Manual/custom-guide/ch-custom-kernel.html

That said, I really don't recommend doing this unless you have a
specific reason, and there's no other way to get something working. 
Most users do not need to build custom kernels.

Hope this helps,
Jeremy Portzer

On Thu, 2003-10-16 at 19:47, Adalita Brown wrote:
> Hi there,
> 
> I have another kernel question.  As per Jeremy's recommendation, I've installed kernel 2.4.20-20.9.i686.rpm as well as kernel 2.4.20-20.9.src.rpm because I have a Pentium II machine (I've verified this in the /proc/cpuinfo).  Now, I would like to install the kernel source file and I am aware that there is none for i686.  Can I use the kernel-source-2.4.20-20.9.i386.rpm file?
> 
> -adalita
> 
> -----Forwarded Message-----
> From: Adalita Brown <adalita at earthlink.net>
> Sent: Oct 14, 2003 8:32 PM
> To: trilug at trilug.org
> Subject: Newbie: Kernel Question
> 
> Hi there,
> 
> I'm using RH9, kernel 2.4.20-8.  At this time, my linux machine has no connectivity to the Internet and not able to download the latest RPMs.  I would like to download the kernel 2.4.20-20.9 from the TriLUG FTP site but am confused which folder to select: i386, i586 and i686.  My OS kernel type is i686 and my CPU kernel type is i386.  Also, I'd like to know if I need to compile the kernel 2.4.20-20.9.
> 
> -adalita
> 
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