Help File Library: 20 (or so) Steps to a New Kernel (With Grub)
by Christine Trobbiani (ctrobbia [at] poetrycontestonline.com)
The steps for installing a new kernel in Red Hat Linux are easy. Just follow these simple rules and you will be set. This is done on my Red Hat 7.3 machine. I use grub as my bootloader. The kernel number is relative to what kernel you are using, so please
extrapolate! If you are working with kernel 2.2.6 that will be the
version number instead of 2.4.19.
I had a hard time finding a kernel how-to directed towards users who are running grub as their bootloader. This document is meant to be very thorough but to also impart a little knowledge. I am no kernel guru by far, just someone who appreciates a nice set of directions. Please let me know if you had trouble with this document or find any errors.
Go to http://www.kernel.org and download the latest stable kernel
Change user to root
su
Copy the downloaded kernel to your /usr/src directory:
cp linux-2.4.19.tar.gz /usr/src/
Uncompress the kernel.
tar -zxvf linux-2.4.19.tar.gz
Change to the linux-2.4.19 directory
cd linux-2.4.19
Make mrproper (This will erase any .config file) This cleans out the configuration files and any object files an older version might have.
make mrproper
The next step is optional, depending on if you want to keep your old
configuration or base your new kernel on your old configuration and add
the new options found in the new kernel.
OPTIONAL: Copy over the old configuration file. (assumes it is an i686)
Complete configuration by one of these four options:
make oldconfig
This will ask you if you want to add in the new options from the kernel
by selecting y/n/m.
make xconfig
(uses a GUI configuration) or
make menuconfig
(uses a terminal configuration based on curses) or
make config
You would need to edit the .config in order to select what options you
want and then run make config to make the configuration file.
xconfig and menuconfig have a help option which is nice if you are
unsure of what option you are turning on/off. make config and make
oldconfig DO NOT have this help menu option.
Make the dependencies, which insures all things, like include files, are in place.
At this point (for Red Hat) I remove the linux-2.4 symlink
rm linux-2.4
Then I make a new symlink to my new kernel directory.
ln -s linux-2.4.19 linux-2.4
Add the new kernel in the configuration file. For example, in grub.conf add:
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.19)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.19 ro root=/dev/hda2 hdd=ide-scsi
If your /boot is on its own partition please remove /boot part of the
kernel location. Your last line in grub should read (If your /boot is on
it's own partition)
title Red Hat Linux (2.4.19)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.19 ro root=/dev/hda2 hdd=ide-scsi
Blue: This is the title that Grub will show in the Splash Screen. It will say
Red Hat Linux (2.4.19)
Red: This is essentially for grub's benefit. It is where grub is installed. (since I am dual booting Windows 2000 this is hd0,1, not hd0,.)
Green: this is where the kernel Image is located and what device root is (/dev/hda2) The hdd=ide-scsi is for scsi emulation (In my case I need it for my IDE CDRW, ATAPI Zip Drive, and USB Smartmedia Reader)
