Procedure for Compiling Kernel Under RedHat 7.2

Overview:

Do the following:

1. Download the kernel source from a kernel.org mirror

   I downloaded 2.4.18 so I will use that as an example

   My old kernel source was 2.4.7-10 so any reference to that is to be considered the previous kernel on your system

2. cp the linux-2.4.18.tar.gz to the /usr/src dir and unzip/tar it

   Before you untar the new kernel source make sure that you delete any soft links that may point to /usr/src/linux--> /usr/src/linux2.4.7-10 or you will overwrite your old source

   It is a very good idea to backup your old source by running #tar -zcvf linux2.4.7-10.backup-<date>.tar.gz linux2.4.7-10 in the /usr/src dir

   tar zxvf linux-2.4.18.tar.gz

3. Either copy an old config file from a known kernel or just run make xconfig to make a fresh one

   It is a good idea to copy the kernel .config files from each kernel build to /boot/config-<kernel-date>

   It can be a little difficult to know what you need to include in a kernel so a previous kernel build .config file can be very helpful just exclude all the stuff that you know you really wont need

4. Once you have created the .config file run make dep from the /usr/src/linux dir

5. Run make clean

6. This next bit is important dont skip it. Open the Makefile in /usr/src/linux and add your own special bit of EXTRAVERSION code to identify your kernel
   I use -yyyy-mm-dd or the extra feature I have added like -ntfs

7. Next bit is Compile Time

   Run make bzImage

   Run make modules

8. Now it's Install Time

   Run make modules_install

   If your running scsi then you need a initrd

   /sbin/mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.4.18-2002-04-01.img 2.4.18-2002-04-01

   Run make install to copy your kernel and stuff to /boot etc

9. OK it's time to edit the boot loader

   This is what you should see I am just going to include a copy of my grub file

   # grub.conf generated by anaconda
   #
   # Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
   # NOTICE:  You do not have a /boot partition.  This means that
   #          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
   #          root (hd0,2)
   #          kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/hda3
   #          initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
   #boot=/dev/hda
   default=3 <-- Incidently this is arrived at by counting from 0 from the first title to the number of the kernel/OS you wont to load automatically at boot.
   timeout=10
   splashimage=(hd0,2)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
   title Red Hat Linux (2.4.7-10)
       root (hd0,2)
       kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-10 ro root=/dev/hda3 hdc=ide-scsi
       initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.7-10.img
   title xp
       rootnoverify (hd0,0)
       chainloader +1
   title Red Hat Linux (2.4.7-10ntfs)
       root (hd0,2)
       kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.7-10ntfs ro root=/dev/hda3 hdc=ide-scsi
       initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.7-10ntfs.img
   title Red Hat Linux (2.4.18-2002-04-01)
       root (hd0,2)
       kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-2002-04-01 ro root=/dev/hda3 hdc=ide-scsi
       initrd /boot/initrd-2.4.18-2002-04-01.img
   

10. OK you're done and don't blame me if it doesn't work