Should be simple, but I've been working on it for a week

[Rick Stevens]

On Thu, 2005-12-15 at 19:27 -0700, Craig Cameron wrote:
> Hi, I installed FC4 text interface on a P3 667 that I intend to
> replace my current router.  I would like to recompile the kernel, but
> there's just one small problem:
>  
> I have no:
> menuconfig
> mrproper
>  
> or any of the compilation tools/scripts.  I installed the kernel
> source RPM, but stilll don't have them.
>  
> Can anyone please tell me if I forgot to install something, or what
> I'm doing wrong.

No, you've not done anything wrong, but the "kernel-devel RPM" for
FC4 only includes the kernel headers and such...it does NOT include the
kernel source code.

Here's what you have to do.

1. Go to one of the mirror sites and download the kernel source RPM.
For example, for the currently released kernel, you can enter this into
your browser:

ftp://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/core/updates/4/SRPMS/kernel-2.6.14-1.1653_FC4.src.rpm

Save the file somewhere.

2. Install the source rpm:

	# cd /dir/where/you/saved/the/.src.rpm
	# rpm -ivh kernel-2.6.14-1.1653_FC4.src.rpm

3. Do the preliminary build:

	# cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS
	# rpmbuild -bp --target=i686 kernel-2.6.spec

This does the preliminary build of the kernel source tree and creates
what used to be distributed as the "kernel-source RPM".

4. Move the kernel source into the normal build tree:

	# cd /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/kernel-2.6.14
	# mv linux-2.6.14 /usr/src/linux-2.6.14-1.1653_FC4
	# cd /usr/src
	# rm -f linux;ln -s linux-2.6.14-1.1653_FC4 linux
	# rm -f linux-2.6;ln -s linux-2.6.14-1.1653_FC4 linux-2.6

5. You can now configure the kernel normally:

	# cd /usr/src/linux
	# make xconfig   -OR-   # make menuconfig

6. You probably want to edit the Makefile so the "EXTRAVERSION="
stuff matches the kernel you're trying to build.

7. Build the kernel.

NOTE: To build a 2.6 kernel, you do NOT need the "make clean;make
mrproper;make dep;make;make modules" stuff any more.  Just do a
"make bzImage;make modules;make module_install;make install"

Hope that helps.

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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-     Better to understand a little than to misunderstand a lot.     -
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