You brought up a great point of mention. I've actually done about 2 hours searching these forums and the internet on this topic of making, building your kernel in a "sandbox" in your home directory, And you're right, supposedly we're not supposed to remove the linux symlink in /usr/src.

Apparently this is a really hot topic. I've seen arguments for both sides. But I heard one very good point someone made that said if you remove your existing symlink e.g. /usr/src/linux put in your new kernel you are fine, as most programs pull to 'uname -r' anyway so that you should be fine. Many times programs like alsa need to be recompiled or built into the kernel because they are kernel dependent. For example, madwifi wont work if I boot into my 2.4 kernel but will if I go 2.6. The generic programs dont seem to mind, oofice, kwrite.

I play it safe. For me, I load up slackware w/the default kernel. Put in all my programs then my updates, except video and wireless, the put my new kernel, then my dazuko/antivirus and video and then I'm done. I only keep the stock kernel and my tweaked kernel on my daily slack.

If I want to play w/a new kernel I have another partition that has an exact copy of my slackware's regular default install, and I play there and make my packages, etc. Then when I'm done playing/testing I dump it and do the final install on my regular daily slackware install. I can afford the 3 gig extra to have a full install playground that seems to be really best for me. I make alot of typo's

My mind works this way on this topic. Mr. Pat V recommends all noobs to come here and use the forums. Most people in these forums who are helping me go this route of building in /usr/src/linux, Shilo, Eric, cwwilson, drkstr, etc. If they're doing it this way, I dont wan't to be different really becuase I've really been relying on their help, and to date these guys never let me down.

I would also hope that Mr. Pat V probably hits these forums once and a while to see what we're all saying. I'd think that if he really felt it were that taboo, he might intervene. LOL, he probably loves the thread where everone says they 'hate Pat' for making us all slackware junkies.

Bye for now.

These are both very good reasons, particlarly the last one. I only have one user so I didn't really see the negative effects of this mehtod before, but now I can see the error in my ways

Thanks for the input!

FYI

2.6 kernels have a new option for:
Memory split (3G/1G user/kernel split (for full 1G low memory))

which is right bellow himem support. This will still allow for full use of 1G memory while not taking the hit in performance with using himem.


regards,
...drkstr

I just finished compiling my kernel. I've been putting it off for a month because I wasn't really confident about doing this with an SATA drive. The timing of this thread couldn't possibly have been any better. The docs earned a place in my red 3-ring binder.

Drkstr... thanks for the memory configuration tip. I have a lot more available RAM now than I did earlier today.

Great thread!

Wow. Should have checked back on this thread. The info is blowing my mind.

I just hope this DOESN'T turn into 'Well, I compile this way...' thread.

As we all know, put 5 Slackers together to compile a kernel, you'll end up with:

5 different kernels, 4 of which work, 3 different threads, 2 kernels that boot, but still don't have all the stuff you need, and at least 1 newbie who goes back to Windows.....

The info in this thread has made many things clear.

And kudos to Eric, for parting some of the fog.

And to Old Fogie, who had the guts to do four things:

1. For asking questions
2. For looking for solutions, here at LQ, and elsewhere
3. For posting his results, good and bad
4. And for sticking with it.

Keep it up, everybody.

Sorry, another addition (kinda off topic):

I think I may need to explain why and how I do things here.

I have between 5-8 computers running at the house here, from laptops to blade servers, running Slack 3.1 (an old Compaq I setup years ago to be a modem server, isolated from my other networks, and still humming away...), Slack 10.2, 1 laptop running 'current', and 3 XP boxes. (5-8 because I'm always upgrading, and hardware does break...)

I use the 'current' laptop (the one I'm writing this on) as my only link to the internet on this network (3 networks here...long story), and as my 'mess about' box. The reason for this is manyfold:

1. The hardware is older, so it is well supported
2. The hardware does not change
3. I don't really care if I mess it up, it is not critical to anything for me.

What I do is experiment with the laptop, then apply the knowledge to my 'critical' boxes, thus saving me tons of grief, and downtime.

Great thing about Slack: My servers (web, mail,news,nfs,samba, and ADS) are rock solid, and my desktops are up.

I beleive it is because of my 'laptop first'policy...lol

But I also do things different on the laptop, because I couldn't care less if it gets hacked or crashes. It won't affect the other networks. So I get sloppy with it, compiling shortcuts, testing software, etc, and security goes out the window on it. It is my 'garbage can', I guess.

So the kernel config files are from one setup of this laptop, the xorg.conf is from a different 'install', etc... (I don't and will NEVER reveal what confs and stuff is running on my critical stuff.)

So if you do use my files, they may, and probably do, have gaping security holes in them, but I post them for reference for others to use.

Just my 2cents...

BTW, I'm a 'favorite poster' now? How the heck did that happen?....Where did these kids in my house that call me Dad come from? When did I buy a house? When did I graduate from school?
And, worst of all, where is my Geritol?

I agree CW, it's really a good idea to have a pc you just play with and test. I use a separate partition, but same theory.

Regarding, not disclosing what you do on your mission critical. I can definitely understand that.

I chuckled at your analogy on # of slackers vs. the outcome of their kernel compiles ahahahah. Very funny.

of course there are more ways to get a new kernel installed, and there
is not one that's " the best".( that's why some discussions never stop )
if you have found a way that works for you, just stick to it.

but working in a "sandbox" in your own home-dir. has some advantages.
( ...and maybe also disadvantages ? )

but the symlink you mention ( /usr/src/linux) is never used.
if you compile some sources that need the headers of the kernel that's used,
the link "/lib/modules/<kernel-version>/build" is used to find the sources.
( this is the case with kernel-modules like alsa, madwifi, nvidea-& ati-drivers
and such)
other programs won't mind.

someone on this forum has a sig :" there's no answers, only choices ".
that hits the nail on the head...

egag

Hi all,

I'm trying to do a kernel on ubuntu so it runs faster in qemu, and while doing that kernel compile, I noticed something that may ?? be helpful on my slackware boxes and was wondering if you had any thoughts or experience with this.

edit forgot link sorry:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=157560

Basically, If you look at this ubuntu guide for kernel compiles, the ubuntu folks recommend applying a "performance patch" before compiling a new kernel.

Now I thought that at first that this was an 'ubuntu' specific thing at first, however, the files that you use to compile a kernel for ubuntu is from kernel.org and it's a standard kernel.

Is there any advantage to me doing this on my slack boxen? Has anyone done this?

Thanks.

If you live on the razors edge and don't mind bleeding. Calling the patches performance patches is a misnomer. Your best bet for performance is to customize .config for your specific setup and use

make oldconfig

on the updated kernel trees to make a decision on the new features that are being added. If following the changelogs you see something that you really want that works if you update with the patch, by all means grab it.

Hiya!

Yeah I'm thinking that the performance patches really dont do anything on ubuntu, so I'm not even going to bother for slackware.

It was really just "a hmmm...is that a good tweak for me" kind of question ya know.