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I need to install another kernel (2.6.34) into my fedora machine (x86) and i need to show the old and new boot up options in the boot menu (both new and old kernel)

I have downloaded the new kernel and i need to compile it and need to build it.

can you explain me the steps for doing that?

I got the correct steps from this discussion and am having doubts in the steps 6 and 7 in the below link which explains the installation of new kernel.

http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/compiling-linux-kernel-26.html

Also can you explain the effective configuration of 'menuconfig' and its what it actually aims?

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2 Answers

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If you just need any 2.6.34-kernel, you might head over to koji and try to find a precompiled one for you version of fedora. You can install it as root after downloading all required rpms with yum localinstall kernel-*.rpm and it will automatically appear in Grub.

If you need to modify the kernel, it is best to also start with the distribution kernel and modify it to suit your needs. There is an extensive howto in the fedora wiki.

Lastly if you really need to start from scratch with the sources from kernel.org, you have to download the source and extract the archive. Then you have to configure the kernel. For this, say make menuconfig for a CLI or make menuconfig for a graphical configuration. You might want to start with the old configuration of the running kernel, see http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/2496/recompile-kernel-to-change-stack-size.

When you are finished configuring, say make to build the kernel, then make modules to build kernel modules.

The following steps have to be done as root: Say make modules_install to install the modules (this will not overwrite anything of the old kernel) and finally make install which will automatically install the kernel into /boot and modify the Grub configuration, so that you can start the new kernel alongside the old one.

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I would like to start from scratch.ie the steps are 1) Download the new kernel source from kernel.org and extract it 2) make menuconfig 3) make 4) make modules 5) make modules_install 6) make install My question is that , don't we need to select the arch(x86) for my machine right? – Renjith G Oct 15 '10 at 8:32
You only would have to do anything special, if you wanted to compile for an architecture other than the one you are running whilst compiling. So no, you don't have to select the arch normally. – fschmitt Oct 15 '10 at 8:46
OK. Can you explain how we can effectively configure(for an embedded system engineer) the menu config to get all useful packages? – Renjith G Oct 15 '10 at 8:51
This really depends on what you need and which system you are using and can't be answered generally. – fschmitt Oct 15 '10 at 8:58
Currently am using the distro version Fedora 11(Leonidas) and and kernel version 2.6.29.4-167.fc11 i686.PAE #1 SMP . I want to get the whole programming(C/C++/java),internet/LAN/wireless/bluetooth,audio support utilities after my installation.(so i need to effectively configure the menuconfig right? ) .Also in this link what is the meaning of step 6 and 7 ? – Renjith G Oct 15 '10 at 9:04
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Have you tried this wiki page? It looks pretty much all that you need.

Regarding the boot options, what boot loader are you using? Grub will probably detect your kernel when you run update-grub or grub-mkconfig.

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