Pointed Q 4.1 to Handbook section on kernel building

Submitted by: Doug White <dwhite@gdi.uoregon.edu>
This commit is contained in:
Jordan K. Hubbard 1998-05-19 01:46:05 +00:00
parent 0d73182d8a
commit a744b4c437
Notes: svn2git 2020-12-08 03:00:23 +00:00
svn path=/head/; revision=2821

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<!-- $Id: kernelconfig.sgml,v 1.1 1997-11-03 08:53:48 max Exp $ -->
<!-- $Id: kernelconfig.sgml,v 1.2 1998-05-19 01:46:05 jkh Exp $ -->
<!-- The FreeBSD Documentation Project -->
<sect>
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<label id="make-kernel">
</heading>
<p>Not at all! First, you need either the complete <tt/srcdist/ or, at
the minimum, the <tt/kerndist/ loaded on your system. This provides the
necessary sources for building the kernel, as, unlike most commercial
UNIX vendors, we have a policy of <bf/NOT/ shipping our kernel code in
binary object form.
<p>Shipping the source takes a bit more space, but it also means
that you can refer to the actual kernel sources in case of
difficulty or to further your understanding of what's
<bf/really/ happening.
<p>Once you have the <tt/kerndist/ or <tt/srcdist/ loaded, do the
following as root:
<enum>
<item> <tt>cd /usr/src/sys/i386/conf</tt>
<item> <tt/cp GENERIC MYKERNEL/
<item> <tt/vi MYKERNEL/
<item> <tt/config MYKERNEL/
<item> <tt>cd ../../compile/MYKERNEL</tt>
<item> <tt/make depend/
<item> <tt/make all/
<item> <tt/make install/
<item> <tt/reboot/
</enum>
<p>Step 2 may not be necessary if you already have a kernel
configuration file from a previous release of FreeBSD 2.X. -
simply bring your old one over and check it carefully for any
drivers that may have changed boot syntax or been rendered
obsolete.
<p>A good kernel config file to look into is <tt/LINT/, which
contains entries for <bf/all/ possible kernel options and
documents them fairly well. The <tt/GENERIC/ kernel config file
is used to build the initial release you probably loaded (unless
you upgraded in-place) and contains entries for the most common
configurations. It's a pretty good place to start from.
<p>If you don't need to make any changes to <tt/GENERIC/, you can
also skip step 3, where you customize the kernel for your
configuration. Step 8 should only be undertaken if steps 6 and 7
succeed. This will copy the new kernel image to
<tt>/kernel</tt> and <bf/BACK UP YOUR OLD ONE IN/
<tt>/kernel.old</tt>! It's very important to remember this in
case the new kernel fails to work for some reason - you can still
select <tt>/kernel.old</tt> at the boot prompt to boot the old
one. When you reboot, the new kernel will boot by default.
<p>If the compile in step 7 falls over for some reason, then it's
recommended that you start from step 4 but substitute
<tt/GENERIC/ for <tt/MYKERNEL/. If you can generate a
<tt/GENERIC/ kernel, then it's likely something in your special
configuration file that's bad (or you've uncovered a bug!). If
the build of the <tt/GENERIC/ kernel does <bf/NOT/ succeed, then
it's very likely that your sources are somehow corrupted.
<p>Finally, if you need to see your original boot messages again to
compile a new kernel that's better tailored to your hardware, try
the <htmlurl url="http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?dmesg"
name="dmesg"> command. It should print out all the boot-time
messages printed by your old kernel, some of which may be quite
helpful in configuring the new one.
<p>Not at all! Check out the <url url="../handbook/kernelconfig.html"
name="kernel config section of the Handbook">.
<p><bf/NOTE:/ I recommend making a dated snapshot of your kernel
in <tt/kernel.YYMMDD/ after you get it all working, that way if