How do I reconfigure my kernel?

**Sean_Foster** · 08-10-2005

How do I reconfigure my kernel? Until now, I haven't had a need to do it.

**smolloy** · 08-10-2005

Do you have the kernel sources??

First back up the old kernel. This is really important, cos odds are that you will not get this right first time, and you want to be able to roll back.

Second, get a good list of your hardware. The output of lspci is a good place to start. Google a bit on the output of this list, and all your hardware.

Unzip and untar the new kernel source, and cd into the new directory. Then "make mrproper" to clean things up for you, and "make menuconfig" to get into the configuration menu. In here is where you can configure the various parts of the kernel, and you should be aware that pressing "h" on any page brings you to help documentation related to that page.

Once you've done that, do

Code:

make && make modules_install

, and then copy the bzImage file (probably in arch/i386/boot/) and the System.map file (probably in the directory you found yourself in after the make command) to the relevant place in /boot/.

Do not undertake this lightly. Read a lot about this. Use google. Make sure you are confident with what you are doing before going ahead with this. But don't disregard it as "too hard" -- just make sure you exercise due diligence, and all should be fine.

Good luck.

**Sean_Foster** · 08-10-2005

Thanks for the help. I will use the output of lspci for practice. I am fortunate in that I built my computer so I have all the documentation and I know exactly what is in it, but this will not always be the case.

**jens** · 08-10-2005

In Debian, it's recommended to make a dep package from your kernel image, see:
http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/90

Also, if you're unsure how to start, menuconfig has an option to load the configuration of your previous kernel(located in /boot/config.x.x.x.x). Next you can add or delete whatever you need...

**DoctorDan** · 08-10-2005

how do you "backup your kernel"?

**smolloy** · 08-10-2005

The kernel is the file that GRUB/LILO points to to boot from. This is almost definitely in /boot

If in doubt back up the whole directory!!

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