HOWTO: Kernel Compilation for Newbies

[NEKOKONEKO]

It says Kunde inte hitta paketet linux-tree in english can't find package linux tree. What shuld i do ?

[tseliot]

It says Kunde inte hitta paketet linux-tree in english can't find package linux tree. What shuld i do ?

try with linux-source.

[Angus77]

Since moving to Hardy, in my /etc/X11/xorg.conf I have:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

I have and ATI Radeon X1300 video card running with the proprietary drivers. Should I leave this as it is or should I add the stuff about the "vesa" driver?

Nice guide, btw. I'm compiling the kernel right now (and so may be answering my own question!)

[Angus77]

It appears that it's okay to leave it as is. I'm running my freshly-compiled kernel right now!

[>.3]

I accidentally closed the terminal while compiling. Do i really have to start all over again?

Apologies for the absolute newbness.

[nick_h]

Do i really have to start all over again?
Not from the very beginning. You will need to re-run the command that you cancelled.

[eeeandrew]

Hi all, I realise this is an older thread now but I was hoping someone would be able to answer a nagging question I have about compiling a kernel.

Why would you do it?

No disrespect to all the hard work that went into this tutorial but I seem to have missed the point. In what situation would it be better to create your own kernel rather than download one that people have spent months developing?

Any info would be appreciated, thanks,
Andrew

PS. I bet your all doing this: ](*,) now

[DagMan]

Primarily just in the event that there was hardware support in a newer kernel, for something that doesn't work with the current kernel.

Other reasons might be to apply a patch that you think might give you a performance increase or again, for unsupported hardware.

Some people also want to select kernel options that are specific to their processor as the generic kernel is one size to fit all and they feel it might be faster to have something specifically selected at compile time.

The other reason I can think of would be to remove hardware support for things that aren't being used. The Ubuntu kernel tries to autodetect hardware and for the most part just load the parts that are needed and it does a very good job at it, but cutting down to nothing more than what you need can reduce your boot time. It might free up a little memory as well but I'm really not sure about that, maybe not.

It is good to know how to apply a patch and compile a kernel for when you do need it.

[go_beep_yourself]

Does anybody have benchmark results or know how to make benchmarks in Ubuntu to compare the performance difference of a stock Ubuntu kernel with a custom configured kernel?

[Werderx]

Hey tseliot,
Newb here. I replaced what i had in my xorg.conf file with mesa (it use to be fglrx), and then rebooted my computer.... which failed. It took me about 2 hours of trying to remember commands to get it fixed in recovery mode. Luckily I wrote down what it said before I changed it to mesa. I see that the user NEKOKONEKO had this same issue and changed it to ati instead of mesa which seemed to work... I'm getting ready to try that again now that i have my computer back up. LOL

Anyways, can you add that part into the guide so others done make the same mistake i did?... or maybe it's there and i dont see it.. hehe as i said, newb here. :)

BTW, i'm running ATI Radeon HD 3650.

I also saw someone else say that they put "radeon" and it works as well.

Well.. here goes nothing... again. Lol :p

PS: DING 1!!!!! :D

[Werderx]

OK so that didn't work..

I changed the xorg.conf file to say ati with no luck. I then tried radeon and nothing.

Currently it says:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "fglrx"

I could have sworn that "Identifier" use to say ATI somthing or other.
I also have another file called xorg.conf~. So just in case i changed both of them to say the same stuff, but nothing...

i'll try and do this without editing the file and see what happens... tomorrow hehe

[masaki]

Hi all!

I'm trying to build the kernel 2.6.27 to lighten it for use Ubuntu on my ThinkPad x20 laptop (PIII, 320Mb RAM). Now it's working a bit slow...

I've read lots of howtos, and that's the way I could succesfully compile the sources from kernel.org:

cd /usr/src
tar -jxvf linux-source-2.6.27.tar.bz2
cd linux-source.2.6.27
make menuconfig
make-kpkg clean
make-kpkg --initrd --revision=x20 kernel_image

Everything is good, but I have a pcmcia WiFi adapter that runs only with ndiswrapper, which disappears in compiled kernel ('module not found' when I'm doing modprobe ndiswrapper).

Then I've tried to config and build kernel source from Ubuntu repos, but it won't compile anyway.
For now it looks so:

LD arch/x86/vdso/built-in.o
LD vmlinux.o
ubuntu/built-in.o:(.bss+0x2ec): multiple definition of `debug'
arch/x86/kernel/built-in.o:(.kprobes.text+0x78): first defined here
ld: Warning: size of symbol `debug' changed from 76 in arch/x86/kernel/built-in.o to 4 in ubuntu/built-in.o
make[1]: *** [vmlinux.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.27'
make: *** [debian/stamp-build-kernel] Error 2


So, what can I do with this?

[Werderx]

Ok... So When i finally got the kernel to compile, I ran out of room on the /usr partition LOL. ahhhh the insanity.

I got a white screen when i tried to run gparted v. 0.3.9-4, so i just reformatted. :/ No real biggie since I'm not putting anything of importance on my linux HDD until I'm close to being a guru lol. This time when I reformatted, I made the /usr partition 70 gigs (another lesson learned) hehe.

Between this forum and another one at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=311158&highlight=patch-2.6.27.5.bz2, I was able to get my kernel updated from 2.6.24 to 2.6.27... However, after rebooting, I got a white screen and no sound. LOL

So I'm back to 2.6.24. I'll just chill with what I have after a week of wrestling with this. LOL
I learned a lot though and this guide was great! Thanks again!:)

[newbee70]

What am I doing wrong here.

I am trying to compile 2.6.27.7 and am running into fun results.


3)Open Terminal or Konsole (if it's not open yet) and type these commands:

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential
sudo apt-get install kernel-package

<<<<<do I need this in step 3 and if so what do I put here the bz2 filename>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


NOTE: HOWTO compile from a vanilla kernel from kernel.org

If you want to compile from a vanilla kernel from kernel.org something need to be changed in my guide:

Skip point 2
You have to download it from www.kernel.org (try the latest stable kernel source)

When you get to Point 3 of the guide and you get to the following lines you have to modify them in this way:

cd /home/your_username_folder/directory_where_you_put_the_downloaded_kernel (instead of cd /usr/src) (e.g. "cd /home/alberto/download" in my case)
sudo tar --bzip2 -xvf linux-source-2.6.10.tar.bz2 /usr/src (use the name of the file you downloaded)
sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.10 /usr/src/linux (use the name of the file you downloaded)
cd /usr/src/linux


<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<And what is causing me this headache?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

ghost@topper:~/Desktop/1$ ls directory where I stored the download
linux-2.6.27.7.tar.bz2 the download does exist there
ghost@topper:~/Desktop/1$ cd /usr/src checked that directory exists
ghost@topper:/usr/src$ cd ~
ghost@topper:~$ cd Desktop/1 moved back to directory
ghost@topper:~/Desktop/1$ sudo tar --bzip2 -xvf linux-2.6.27.7.tar.bz2 /usr/src linux-2.6.27.7.tar.bz2

it took about 2 minutes before it came back with this information

tar: /usr/src: Not found in archive
tar: linux-2.6.27.7.tar.bz2: Not found in archive
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
ghost@topper:~/Desktop/1$


any and all help will be appreciated... and yes I am a Nooob 2.

[DagMan]

sudo tar -xvf linux-2.6.27.7.tar.bz2 -C /usr/src


You don't need to add --bzip2 with tar anymore whlinux-source-2.6.27en its data coming from a file. If it had that type of compression coming over a network or another stream then it would be needed

the -C switch says to unpack it into a specific directory, in this case /usr/src which I assume you want. You'd want to then
cd /usr/src

And I think the next part is in the guide...
rm linux
ln -s linux-source-2.6.27 linux
except in the above line you'de substitute linux-source-2.6.27 for whatever the name of the source is. If you got it from ubuntu then it would be linux-source-2.6.27 but from kernel.org or elsewhere it might be differant.
It should be clearer, if you get this far, where to pick back up from the guide.

If you don't want to build in /usr/src then you can specify another location after the -C switch in the first line, but it's the recommended place.




Hi all!

I'm trying to build the kernel 2.6.27 to lighten it for use Ubuntu on my ThinkPad x20 laptop (PIII, 320Mb RAM). Now it's working a bit slow...

I've read lots of howtos, and that's the way I could succesfully compile the sources from kernel.org:

cd /usr/src
tar -jxvf linux-source-2.6.27.tar.bz2
cd linux-source.2.6.27
make menuconfig
make-kpkg clean
make-kpkg --initrd --revision=x20 kernel_image

Everything is good, but I have a pcmcia WiFi adapter that runs only with ndiswrapper, which disappears in compiled kernel ('module not found' when I'm doing modprobe ndiswrapper).

Then I've tried to config and build kernel source from Ubuntu repos, but it won't compile anyway.
For now it looks so:

LD arch/x86/vdso/built-in.o
LD vmlinux.o
ubuntu/built-in.o:(.bss+0x2ec): multiple definition of `debug'
arch/x86/kernel/built-in.o:(.kprobes.text+0x78): first defined here
ld: Warning: size of symbol `debug' changed from 76 in arch/x86/kernel/built-in.o to 4 in ubuntu/built-in.o
make[1]: *** [vmlinux.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.27'
make: *** [debian/stamp-build-kernel] Error 2


So, what can I do with this?
If your problem is that you build and still aren't getting ndiswrapper, then it needs to be enabled in menuconfig. I don't know where its located.
If your problem is that you've enabled it but your build is stopping in that error, then from the looks of the error, try going down into, at menuconfig, the kernel hacking section and turning off kernel debugging. Look at the help within menuconfig for the things that are enabled in the kernel hacking section. I can't be any more specific, but there are a couple of things that aren't needed in there, I've already disabled them and don't have a referance to look at but the help section should point the way.

Whenever I try to build a really small kernel, I plug in as many devices as I can, connect to the internet, start up my prefered firewall... do everything that will load modules that I might need after a compile, then run this script http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0503.1/1248.html and direct the output to .config
I end up having to recompile to enable things that were stripped out and I didn't think about before compiling, but on the positive side I'm not removing unwanted modules.

[newbee70]

[QUOTE=DagMan;6241301]sudo tar -xvf linux-2.6.27.7.tar.bz2 -C /usr/src


You don't need to add --bzip2 with tar anymore whlinux-source-2.6.27en its data coming from a file. If it had that type of compression coming over a network or another stream then it would be needed

the -C switch says to unpack it into a specific directory, in this case /usr/src which I assume you want. You'd want to then
cd /usr/src

And I think the next part is in the guide...
rm linux
ln -s linux-source-2.6.27 linux
except in the above line you'de substitute linux-source-2.6.27 for whatever the name of the source is. If you got it from ubuntu then it would be linux-source-2.6.27 but from kernel.org or elsewhere it might be differant.
It should be clearer, if you get this far, where to pick back up from the guide.

If you don't want to build in /usr/src then you can specify another location after the -C switch in the first line, but it's the recommended place.


If this was for me thanks it got me through that part, now I have a problem with make oldconfig that I have to research.

so you'll probably hear me pulling my hair out for a few days.

But again thank's for the assist. :)

[RoundSparrow]

I'm trying to build kernel on recently updated Ubuntu 8.10.

I get this problem:


# sudo apt-get build-dep linux-ubuntu-modules-$(uname -r)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to find a source package for linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.27-9-generic


Any ideas?d

[DagMan]

It doesn't look like linux-ubuntu-modules are still part of the repos. I think they're all in the section where it says Ubuntu patches or something like that when you're in menuconfg. If you have a device that is no longer supported on a custom build of the 2.6.27 kernel and you got the kernel from ubuntu software sources and not kernel.org or elsewhere, then you're probably looking to build the ubuntu-backport-modules or possibly there's a particular package that needs to be reinstalled so the kernel module is rebuilt for the kernel you built.

What's the hardware device that you need support for btw?

[connexion2503]

I'm using Ubuntu 8.1 and trying to compile kernel 2.6.18 for a study reason. I use 'make xconfig' to make the configuration. However I don't know which processor family that Intel Core 2 Duo belongs to. Thus I chose Intel Pentium 4 family. When I compiled kernel with this configuration, I got this problem:
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.18'
CHK include/linux/version.h
CHK include/linux/utsrelease.h
HOSTCC scripts/mod/sumversion.o
scripts/mod/sumversion.c: In function ‘get_src_version’:
scripts/mod/sumversion.c:384: error: ‘PATH_MAX’ undeclared (first use in this function)
scripts/mod/sumversion.c:384: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
scripts/mod/sumversion.c:384: error: for each function it appears in.)
scripts/mod/sumversion.c:384: warning: unused variable ‘filelist’
make[3]: *** [scripts/mod/sumversion.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [scripts/mod] Error 2
make[1]: *** [scripts] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.18'
make: *** [debian/stamp-build-kernel] Error 2

Did I have a mistake in configuration? If not what is the reason?

[FerociousTwig]

Yeah I'm having some wireless card issues with my new kernel too, trying to work em out though. I'll post more info/details if I can't figure it out soon.

Thanks for the great guide.

[cb34]

hi, really great guide, but i need some help please.

i want to recompile my kernel and remove all the cpu thermal control, and acpi and anything to do with that.

i run a prescott chip, and it is naturally very hot, i have the uguru Abit board, and i have full control of the temps and fans from there, it is totally normal for my chip to run at 70-75 under heavy load, and if it blows up, hehe, i dont really care, ive had this chip for soo long, so the issue is, i have these thermal warnings in my kern and sys logs and i dont even think my cpu supports thermal/frequency throttling and i dont want the kernel to control any aspect of this. it's causing me many shutdowns, when the kernel thinks its a dangerous temp, and i know it is not.

also, when it tries to throttle the cpu, i read the reason it crashes my system is because either my cpu doesn't support it, or the way in which it tries to send the workload to the other cpu for a second.. but its HT, not real core2 duo.. and the system jams.. or when trying to cut the power by half to the chip, it can't, and jams the system.. my motherboard has a seperate uGuru chip on it that controls all that stuff.. anywayz..

i downloaded the source from the repo, untared it, and i tried to use the program -make xconfig-, and i do find thermal stuff(did a search for thermal, found what i think it is i need to change), my question is, i untick those few thermal things, then save the config. then what.

how do i recompile my current kernel with that new config.

also.. when i open the linux source with make-xconfig, are all the settings i see my current settings, or am i looking at a fresh config and i need to set EVERYTHING properly in the kernel??
hope you know what i mean.

Thanks for any help.. i really need to get rid of these thermal modules in the kernel.

and i found all these thermal modules lookin at lsmod, modprobe -r them, but the thermal warnings are still there, and tried acpi=off(but then nvidia driver wouldn't load up, even after reinstalling the nvidia module), and during the nvidia reinstall, with the thermal modules unloaded, i still got the thermal warnings, so it is inside the kernel that i need to tweak..

sorry for the long winded post, just wanted to try and get all the details on what im tryin to do out., and what i've tried so far.

and i definitely do want to disable the thermal stuff in the kernel, i know what im doing in that respect.

Thank you.

edit-> just to show the warning im talkin about.. that eventually lock my machine...

CPU1: Temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events = 1820)
CPU0: Temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events = 1820)

and i'm pretty sure it's the thermal control module/s in the kernel that's crashing my machine, and not the high temp itself.. i mean.. there's no high temp condition that needs to be addressed if that's what you're thinking, that's just how my p4prescott runs, and how it alwayz ran.

[aklilom]

Thanks a lot! a nice guide.

[itsjareds]

Thanks! Worked great for me to enable CONFIG_MODULE_FORCE_UNLOAD. I did reach this error, however, when installing the linux-image package, and I used the fix from this bug report (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-common/+bug/303795) to work around it:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia-common
sudo apt-get install nvidia-common

All went smoothly after that.

Quick question: What files are OK to clean up after I've finished compiling? I still have 4.5GB of /usr/src/linux-source-* and 3 .deb packages, and I'd like to remove them. I also assume that it's ok to remove the link /usr/src/linux?

[Mickeysofine1972]

Hi

Does this work for Intel based video too?

Mike

[vishwaba]

UBUNTU 8.10 default kernel comes with symbol versioning enabled. I want to disable kernel symbol version and build standard kernel. Anybody know how to disable kernel symbol versioning ?

[kevinguillorytraining]

Nice guide. Thanks for posting

[kevinguillorytraining]

Good Job. Thanks for a nice tutorial

[SuperMetroid]

I followed this guide, but when I went to install the kernel, I got a dkpg-related error:

Command:

$ sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx_2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom_i386.deb
Response:

Selecting previously deselected package linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx.
(Reading database ... 201129 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx (from linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx_2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom_i386.deb) ...

Setting up linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx (2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom) ...
dpkg: warning: obsolete option '--print-installation-architecture', please use '--print-architecture' instead.
Command #2:

$ sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx_2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom_i386.deb
Response:

(Reading database ... 212420 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx 2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom (using linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx_2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx ...
Setting up linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx (2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom) ...
dpkg: warning: obsolete option '--print-installation-architecture', please use '--print-architecture' instead.
I think it's a bug, but I don't understand how to fix it.

Here is a page mentioning fixes (though I don't understand how to use this to my advantage):
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/403316

Can anyone help?

[timhalo]

@SuperMetroid, I got the "'--print-architecture' instead." message as well. Don't remember what else the printout said but I remember that line. I just went ahead and booted to the new kernel anyways. No problems so far. But then I only need it for 1 specific task.

@All, I read this entire thread and my problem is solved....so Thanks. I think I got back 400 megs of ram.

So now my question is....can I safely remove all this inside /usr/src/?:
linux -> /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.31/
linux-headers-2.6.31-14/
linux-headers-2.6.31-14-generic/
linux-headers-2.6.31.4-custom20091121/
linux-headers-2.6.31.4-custom20091121_2.6.31.4-custom20091121-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb
linux-image-2.6.31.4-custom20091121_2.6.31.4-custom20091121-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb
linux-source-2.6.31/
linux-source-2.6.31.tar.bz2

But, if I should want to compile another kernel, I can keep the link and linux-source-2.6.31/ or should I get rid of all, and just untar the source again?

Thanks.

[Wulfeous]

I followed this guide, but when I went to install the kernel, I got a dkpg-related error:

Command:

$ sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx_2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom_i386.deb
Response:

Selecting previously deselected package linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx.
(Reading database ... 201129 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx (from linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx_2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom_i386.deb) ...

Setting up linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx (2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom) ...
dpkg: warning: obsolete option '--print-installation-architecture', please use '--print-architecture' instead.
Command #2:

$ sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx_2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom_i386.deb
Response:

(Reading database ... 212420 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx 2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom (using linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx_2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom_i386.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx ...
Setting up linux-headers-2.6.31.4-xxxx (2.6.31.4-xxxx-10.00.Custom) ...
dpkg: warning: obsolete option '--print-installation-architecture', please use '--print-architecture' instead.
I think it's a bug, but I don't understand how to fix it.

Here is a page mentioning fixes (though I don't understand how to use this to my advantage):
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/403316

Can anyone help?

Wish I could find an answer to this :(
I have no idea where to change --print-installation-architecture to --print-architecture

[Mark_in_Hollywood]

Quoted material in RED color.

From page 1 of this HOWTO I read:

Scroll down the text until you find this section (this is my configuration):

Code:
Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon 330M/340M/350M (RS200 IGP)"
Driver "ati"
BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
Substitute the word in red with “vesa”, make it look like this:
Code:
Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon 330M/340M/350M (RS200 IGP)"
Driver "vesa"
BusID "PCI:1:5:0"

my xorg.conf (LUCID LYNX) reads:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Default Device"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

every word in this xorg.conf is NOT in color. Do I have to change the line:

Driver "nvidia" to "vesa" like yours?

I know it would be asking a week's work, but could you write an updated HOWTO on this subject?

[new_bember]

main thing is that after installing new kernel (vanilla kernel)* your proprietary drivers will unable to start.. so you just prevent yourself from unstarted X. If you`re useing 10.04 then seems right option to change `nvidia` in your xorg.conf to `nouveau` or to `vesa`.

As for me, my nvidia-current driver works after rebuilding current kernel version.

[godspeedmav]

if i were to compile the kernel and apply a patch to it, how should i do it?
this is the *.txt file of the patch that i've to apply to Linux 2.6.35-rc6
i've gotten to the no.6 step as in the guide:

6)After the (long) process type this in the command line (Terminal or Konsole)

Code:
cd /usr/src ls
You'll see a list of the names of the files in the folder as well as the names of your new kernel image and kernel headers; they should look (approximately)like the following:

kernel-image-2.6.10-custom_10.00.Custom_i386.deb
kernel-headers-2.6.10-custom_10.00.Custom_i386.deb

could you please guide me?
thanks in advance.

[ChaVinee]

Hey,
the whole process went fine till

kernel-image-2.6.10-custom_10.00.Custom_i386.deb
kernel-headers-2.6.10-custom_10.00.Custom_i386.deb

these files were not build in the /usr/src folder as you suggested they would.

Help me,....what should I do next?