kernel 2.6.39.1 installation

[victor_sk]

Hi everyone,

I've got a bit of a problem here installing kernel 2.6.39. I'm a CS student curious about OS and its inner workings so I attempted to build and install kernel on my own. The book which I read advised that I don't install kernel as root but most of the commands still required me to execute using 'sudo'.

- using 'make menuconfig' tool "Device Drivers" I've added device support for my Dell machine (but I don't think this could cause any problems).

- I executed the 'make ARCH=x86_64 defconfig' and compiled with 'make -j4' command because I have a dual core processor.

When I try to select the new kernel from boot menu and run it in "Recovery Mode" I get these errors:



No filesystem could mount root, tried: ext3 vfat msdos
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown block (8, 2)


I can still load my original Ubuntu installation but need some advise on how to build kernel in Ubuntu. Perhaps there are some specific steps I need to follow to install a kernel in Ubuntu or could it be a bug in kernel itself?

Thank you,
Victor.

[dabl]

If you want a 2.6.39 kernel, just install a Ubuntu 11.10 daily build.

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily/current/


Alternatively, if your goal is to build a Gnu/Linux OS from scratch, then you don't want Ubuntu, you want Linux From Scratch: http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

[sbraz]

this is one of my build scripts called "buildonly". i often start it in single user mode to have the least amount of processes running (=save time). i'm not sure "fakeroot" is needed but it surely won't cause any harm. :)



#
# cleanup
#
make clean
make-kpkg clean
#
# build new kernel
#
date > /usr/src/compile-time
fakeroot make deb-pkg
date >> /usr/src/compile-time
#
# choose your preferred deus-ex-machina
#
shutdown -h now
#reboot


optionally, you can fakeroot make deb-pkg > /somepath/somelogfile to redirect stdout to a file: should the compiling process break at least you know where it stopped. notice that stderr isn't redirected to the logfile - i'm not a developer so for now i don't care, but just in case here's some tips about redirection: http://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/io-redirection.html

compiling a kernel takes some practice, just keep 1-2 stock kernels as a backup/fallback (i learnt this the hard way).
you can find and when you get a good one remember to cp .config config.OK so should you screw up something (you have to in order to fully understand the process) you can always go back.

my 2.6.39.1 config file comes from /boot/config-2.6.35-28-generic, which has been violently experimented and developed through more or less every version inbetween. :D

about root or not root: i just sudo su.

[dabl]

If you want a 2.6.39 kernel, just install a Ubuntu 11.10 daily build.


Actually, as of today, Oneiric is offereing a Linux 3.0.0 kernel. :D