I've been thinking on compiling my first own kernel for a while, and since 2.4.21 stable has just been released I downloaded it and compiled it.... It went surprisingly smothly, just a few problems with lilo (wrong names for the labels, nothing serious).
My only (kind-off) problem was with /boot/initrd.gz. My debian came from a knopix cd, is a mixture of testing and unstable, had a kernel 2.4.20-xfs before (and still has in LinuxOld), has GCC 3.3. When I booted into the new kernel, and /boot/initrd.gz kicked in, there was a problem with the modules on it (ext3 and jsb?), that were compiled for 2.4.20, so I got a kernel panic and the bootup stalled. Then I read that I really do not need /boot/initrd.gz (Debian Reference page 85), so I comented it out in lilo like this: image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.20-xfs label=Linux initrd=/boot/initrdold.gz read-only # restricted # alias=1 image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.21 label=LinuxNew # initrd=/boot/initrd.gz read-only # restricted # alias=1 So here is my first question. What is /boot/initrd.gz for anyway?. Do I need it?. My second question is about the xfs patch. Before compilation I tried to patch another kernel I was playing with, before compilation (2.4.20)... uuuhhh!... should I do it after compilation?. Anyway, I couldn't patch it, I got a message stating that the 3 Hunks failed!?!?!. So I left it out for 2.4.21... I don't even think there is a patch for 2.4.21, and if there is, somebody let me know.... Do I need that patch. I use ext3 only, and I have no plans to use anything else. My third question is... well, so far everything works, my laptop is in one piece... but I really do not notice any difference... So, why should I use this kernel?. I only did it because my knoppix CD does not come with the kernel source that I need to recompile the kernel and get the Dazuko "patch/module" I need for AVguard antivirus. Finally, how do I get my kernel customized for 686... just to know!. Thanks. PD I guess I should be doing some more reading and googling, but I am a little bit tired, so bear with me. Again, thanks. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]