Subject:  Building kernel-2.4.25 for RedHat 7.1
Date:     Thu Feb 19 22:37:43 PST 2004
From:     Pamela Y. C. Fong


I'm searching and seeking advice to piece together instructions
for updating the kernel on two RedHat 7.1 (Seawolf) servers from
kernel-2.4.20-28.7 to the latest 2.4.25 kernel version.

Here is a draft of the procedure I'm proposing and the questions
that I've encountered so far.  This document is a work in progress.
 
1.  Obtain source code.  I bet this file has most everything I need,
      http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/linux-2.4.25.tar.gz
 
    What does this file do?  I don't understand the changelog.
      http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/patch-2.4.25.gz
 
2.  Download and unpack the source code package.  Should this be in
    /usr/src/linux, or does it matter?
 
      mkdir /usr/src/linux-2.4.25
      cd /usr/src/linux-2.4.25
 
      (download the file here)
 
      gzip -d linux-2.4.25.tar.gz
      tar xvf linux-2.4.25.tar
 
3.  Should I copy the previous configuration file into the source
    subdirectory?  Will this provide the defaults for the difficult
    configuration questions?
 
      cp /boot/config-2.4.20-28.7 /usr/src/linux-2.4.25/.config

    I suppose once I unpack the archive, I can compare the
    default with previous version on my system.

      diff /boot/config-2.4.20-28.7 /usr/src/linux-2.4.25/.config
 
4.  Is it this simple?  Will I be asked to make any surprise
    decisions?
 
      make mrproper          //Cleans kernel config directories
      make xconfig           //Setup the config; lot's of questions
      make dep               //Check for dependencies
      make clean             //Prepare source tree for build
      make bzImage           //Compile the kernel
      make modules           //Compile modules
      make modules_install   //Install modules
 
5.  Since the computer uses SCSI, create an initrd image.
 
      mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.4.25.img 2.4.25
 
6.  Edit /etc/lilo.conf to create a new kernel entry.
 
7.  Install the new kernel files in their proper places.
 
      make install
 
---Pam