On Wed, Nov 06, 2013 at 01:22:23PM +0000, Richard wrote: > Hello again, > > I am surprised and confused by the warnings and instructions in Section 8.3 - > can someone please elaborate on the points below? > > I have previously rebuild the kernel several times on a variety of distros > and although instructions differ there has always been one unshakable thing > in common: the kernel sources always always always live below /usr/src/linux. > I have just checked my host system (a recent clean install of slackware - > running 3.2.29-smp) and it too has a symlink from /usr/src/linux to the > current source tree. So the obvious questions arise: > > - Where should the kernel source be kept? Presumably below /sources with all > the rest?
Keep it anywhere you like! Or don't keep it extracted [ I believe that certain iptables-related things want kernel source, but that is extremely unusual and certainly iptables itself doesn't need the kernel source for normal builds ]. Apart from during the build of LFS, where root is the only user, there is no need to build the kernel as root. For years, my kernel source lived in /home/ken. I only moved it out of there to avoid the waste of backing it up : as long as you can recreate the .config, an extracted kernel tree isn't needed. > - What are these dire consequences which are alluded to in the warning box at > the end of 8.3.1? > - Is this a LFS-specific problem or are other distro making a mistake? As > just stated there seems to be such a symlink on slackware and I had a brief > flirtation with gentoo which I am sure also store kernel source below > /usr/src/linux? > I have a very vague recollection that one or two packages (probably not in BLFS) used to pick up kernel details by looking at /usr/src/linux , if it existed, in the very distant past. ISTR they actually wanted to know the capabilities of the _running_ kernel. But yes, we consider that everyone making an unnecessary /usr/src/linux symlink is mistaken, just as we consider that updating the kernel headers when updating the kernel is wrong. ĸen -- das eine Mal als Tragödie, dieses Mal als Farce -- http://linuxfromscratch.org/mailman/listinfo/lfs-support FAQ: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/faq.html Unsubscribe: See the above information page
