New kernel on new install, make not making.

[rudie_rage]

Hello. I used to run slackware. Just last week I figured I'd switch to gentoo. Between only having a wireless connection, and the liveCD (networkless) install not agreeing with my hardware, I decided it couldnt be done, and if it could, it wasnt worth it. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to try out a new distro, I picked debian. When I started learning about linux about 2 years ago, ubuntu was really nice to me, but lacked flexibility. I believe debian might be a good distro for me.

Anyway, to get to the point, I'm missing dependencies to compile my kernel, and I can't figure out how to get apt-get to search through all available packages. Something similar to slapt-get --search <query> is what Im looking for specifically. Aptitude gives a nice little menu, but if I already pretty much know what im looking for, a search function would be nicer.

While I'm here, I might as well ask: what are the dependencies for compiling a kernel? I added make, gcc, g++, I'm about to find ncurses.... make menuconfig is still giving plenty of errors when i try, but Im hoping ncurses is the last of what i need.

[Juan Pablo]

apt-cache search <package name> will search through APT database, GCC and ncurses are enough to configure and compile a kernel but you will need the development libraries as well

[rudie_rage]

yeah, make config now works, but make menuconfig dosnt.

Unfortunately make config with a kernel is an ungodly long process, so I have to get ncurses going now.

apt-cache search ncurses is only pulling up a few results, all of which i have installed. My only apt-get source is the first debian install disk since my network is unconfigurable until I build a new kernel. However, I find it hard to believe that an OS would include gnome on the first disk, yet lack the tools to build a kernel.

Is there a way to do this? Or should I start looking for the package and burn it to a cd so i can put it on this machine? If so, what package am I looking for (amd64 install, as well, just to let you know). I've gotten as far as finding Debian -- Debian Package Search Results
before I am given too many options to properly choose. I'd guess lib64ncurses5-dev but im not really a gambling kind of person. Anyone want to second that opinion before i start wasting disks?

so far i have installed: whiptail, libncursesw5,ncurses-bin, libncurses5, ncurses-base, and ncurses-term. Thats every related package on the first disk, and Im pretty sure all of them were installed with the system, not afterwards.

[Juan Pablo]

You want this one Debian -- libncurses5-dev , you need the development files in order to be able to compile the ncurses configuration tool

[rudie_rage]

Thank you. With any luck I'll have a configured system shortly after I find the time to install that.

Edit: worked great. Kernel compiling as I speak

Thanks Juan Pablo!