Recipe 10.6. Adding New Features to the 2.6 Kernel

10.6.1 Problem

You need to add features to your 2.6 kernel.

10.6.2 Solution

Follow Recipe 10.5, except you'll use oldconfig instead of xconfig:

$ make mrproper

Copy your existing .config file to ~/src/linux-2.6.3 now. Then run the following commands:

$ make oldconfig

$ make

$ su

# make modules_install

# cp ~/src/linux-2.6.3/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.3-test

# cp ~/src/linux-2.6.3/System.map  /boot/System.map-2.6.3-test

Add your new kernel to your bootloader, and you're ready to go.

10.6.3 Discussion

Do not try to use a 2.4 .config file—the two kernels are quite different, and it will cause many troubles.

The make command, all by itself, replaces make dep, make bzImage, and make modules.

10.6.4 See Also

• The documentation in the kernel build tree, starting with the Readme, which covers building, configuring, and compiling the kernel

• This chapter's "Introduction," for where to get kernel sources and where to look for documentation

• Recipe 10.2, for explanations of the build commands and how to configure your bootloader