Current version - 1.06

New - Al Tourlakes' Completely Unauthorized Introduction; Buildkernel from a new user's perspective. Well worth the read if building your own kernel seems intimidating. See the Files section.

Introduction

Rather than go into a massive web page about it, I'd rather spend time on the actual script. I'll just include some basic information here.

The buildkernel script is an intelligent tool that will build a new linux kernel for you. It is designed to be easy so that a novice can use it. At the same time, it is flexible and powerful enough that it can be useful for experienced users. Please see the documentation files below for more details.

Versions and Installation

(Please note that Buildkernel now requires the Samlib library. Please install that before installing Buildkernel.

Current development version: 1.06

Current development version in rpm format: 1.06 RPM

Current development version in src rpm: 1.06 SRC RPM

1.06 includes preliminary grub, iptables, and cml2 support. Some of these pieces may not work yet. Unless you specifically need one of these, stick with 1.05.

Current stable version: 1.05

Current stable version in rpm format: 1.05 RPM

Current stable version in src rpm: 1.05 SRC RPM

If you have an rpm based system (RedHat, Caldera, SuSE or Mandrake), here's how to get going:

1. rpm -Uvh http://www.stearns.org/samlib/samlib-0.2-0.noarch.rpm<Enter>
2. rpm -Uvh ftp://buildkernel.stearns.org/pub/wstearns/buildkernel/buildkernel-1.06-1.noarch.rpm<Enter>
3. buildkernel NEWESTSTABLE<Enter>

If not:

1. Download samlib-0.2.tar.gz to /usr/src
2. cd /usr/src<Enter>
3. tar -xzvf samlib-0.2.tar.gz<Enter>
4. cd sam-0.2<Enter>
5. make install<Enter>
6. cd /usr/src<Enter>
7. Download buildkernel-1.06.tar.gz to /usr/src
8. tar -xzvf buildkernel-1.06.tar.gz<Enter>
9. cd buildkernel-1.06<Enter>
10. make install<Enter>
11. buildkernel NEWESTSTABLE<Enter>

• 1.05 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 1.04 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 1.03 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 1.02 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 1.01 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 1.00 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 0.89 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 0.88 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 0.87 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 0.86 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 0.85 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 0.84 tar, rpm, src rpm.
• 0.83 tar
• 0.82 tar
• 0.81 tar
• 0.8 tar

Files

Here are the files from the package if you want to see them online. In all honesty, you could just download the actual buildkernel script to /usr/bin/buildkernel and run it. However, it'll make much more sense and be more useful to you if you at least skim some of the documentation.

• Makefile
• QUICKSTART How to get going quickly.
• bkrc The default settings file, optional.
• buildkernel The main build script.
• buildkernel.doc The manual.
• COPYING GNU Copyleft
• TURBOSTART-NEWESTSTABLE Cut and paste the instructions in this file for the absolute easiest way to get going.
• buildkernel.lsm The upcoming Linux Software Map entry.
• sample.bklog A sample output log from a kernel build.
• Al Tourlakes' Completely Unauthorized Introduction. Al, a new Buildkernel user, talks about the program and offers some pointers to other first time users. This text is now Section 1 of buildkernel.doc.

Feedback

If you have suggestions or questions, please email me at wstearns@pobox.com. I will be putting together a mailing list for buildkernel announcements as well. Let me know if you'd like to be on that list.

I'm especially interested in even brief success or failure reports. If you include the build log I can fill in the table of software versions with which buildkernel is compatible. Feel free to send reports to the above email address.

Thanks

The web site for this software is at the Data Haven Project. FTP space for the software has been graciously donated by Erik Wheeler, Tom Jiamachello, and Ross Carlson of Ontique, the online antique auction, and Collector Online, the premiere web site for antiques and collectibles. Many thanks, guys!

An additional web site has been donated by the guys at Netpedia. They've offered free web space to open source development projects. They even offer a virtual host name - This software can be found at buildkernel.netpedia.net.

To find out more about getting you own domain for an Open Source project, see www.netpedia.net

Packages from 0.88 on have been signed with my PGP key. I include a copy below. Obviously, you should get the key from a trusted location, i.e. not the same place where you got the package you wish to verify!

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: 2.6.2

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ponqbWh6S5KRLDkr0i06d0Pxt6myBhBiVHG8t5e8V9bhijQWhQEjNMvzIpKdAAUT
tCdXaWxsaWFtIEwuIFN0ZWFybnMgPHdzdGVhcm5zQHBvYm94LmNvbT6JAJUCBRA1
WK/z+TSzjE80FP0BAR4bBACwWUGtz3gbLpZksr5KU7yVDceIne3wDHxZGQVsuWiW
kJpJTEsr9HQ0as2zhIMCqHXf+6QVuD4LmWFOxsHVpvUhUp90ES9ozWSa9+Wm1B5K
mee84GZ7AOqrYWj37jYwI4/ec3aU0wBNCosr+UmYdB2NvUMsBqjyYzXg/9/KV7lc
YYkAlQMFEDNZpNABIzTL8yKSnQEBkycD/j3+zMdOlwrOJiLkAFz4g3CoXA+pI3qK
LhTCorFDhaBr5ks6Lv0YQ/XV8YumIH9HNXsyFsnNjst+gvxOb0C9QS+AdA+0IlAQ
tuVORBv4mr6stVPgk6yiHYSYMkBwEFdBi3f++HswPo7+5buepeI5c6dq0JrVE5Pr
ehds68GrH3gH
=/07L
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Best viewed with something that can show web pages... <grin>