Kernel Upgrade to 2.6.21.1 from 2.6.18.8

[gatekeeper]

I have been trying to upgrade to the new kernel 2.6.21.1 from 2.6.18.8

Before compiling it, I issued the following commands:
cp /proc/config.gz ~/linux/
cd ~/linux
gzip -dv config.gz

Then I renamed the config file to ".config" and copied it into the linux-2.6.21.1 directory.

Afterwards I issued the command "make oldconfig" and the output was:

HOSTCC scripts/basic/fixdep
HOSTCC scripts/basic/docproc
HOSTCC scripts/kconfig/conf.o
HOSTCC scripts/kconfig/kxgettext.o
SHIPPED scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c
SHIPPED scripts/kconfig/lex.zconf.c
SHIPPED scripts/kconfig/zconf.hash.c
HOSTCC scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.o
HOSTLD scripts/kconfig/conf
scripts/kconfig/conf -o arch/i386/Kconfig
#
# using defaults found in /boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default
#
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:30:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SUSE_KERNEL
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:103:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol X86_XEN
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:137:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol X86_XADD
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:160:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol X86_APIC_AUTO
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:172:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SWIOTLB
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:199:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol REGPARM
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:233:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol ACPI_HOTKEY
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:243:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol ACPI_SONY
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:244:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol ACPI_PCC
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:246:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol ACPI_CUSTOM_DSDT_INITRD
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:318:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol PCI_GOXEN_FE
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:376:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol HOTPLUG_PCI_SHPC_POLL_EVENT_MODE
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:407:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol IP_ROUTE_FWMARK
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:556:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol IP_NF_MATCH_DSCP
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:561:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol IP_NF_MATCH_HASHLIMIT
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:566:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol IP_NF_TARGET_TCPMSS
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:584:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol IP_NF_TARGET_DSCP
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:685:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol DECNET_ROUTE_FWMARK
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:1065:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol PARIDE_PARPORT
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:1114:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol CIPHER_TWOFISH
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:1153:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:1196:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol IDEDMA_AUTO
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:1342:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol ATA_ACPI
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:1437:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol IEEE1394_OUI_DB
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:1440:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol IEEE1394_EXPORT_FULL_API
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:1763:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol DLCI_COUNT
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2107:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol NOZOMI
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2270:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol CRASHER
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2467:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol VIDEO_SAA7134_DVB_ALL_FRONTENDS
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2477:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol VIDEO_CX88_DVB_ALL_FRONTENDS
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2529:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol RADIO_MIROPCM20
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2530:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol RADIO_MIROPCM20_RDS
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2655:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol VIDEO_VIDEOBUF
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2752:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol BACKLIGHT_DEVICE
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2754:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol LCD_DEVICE
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2759:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol BOOTSPLASH
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2799:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SND_AC97_BUS
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2924:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol OSS_OBSOLETE_DRIVER
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2926:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SOUND_EMU10K1
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2927:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol MIDI_EMU10K1
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2928:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SOUND_FUSION
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2939:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SOUND_AD1816
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2940:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SOUND_AD1889
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2941:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SOUND_ADLIB
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2942:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SOUND_ACI_MIXER
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2949:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SOUND_NM256
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2956:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SOUND_OPL3SA2
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2965:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol AEDSP16_MPU401
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2982:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol USB_BANDWIDTH
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:2996:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol USB_OHCI_BIG_ENDIAN
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3032:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol USB_HIDINPUT
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3302:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol EXT3_FS_NFS4ACL
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3319:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol FS_NFS4ACL
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3346:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol ZISOFS_FS
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3387:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol JFFS_FS
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3388:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol JFFS_FS_VERBOSE
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3389:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol JFFS_PROC_FS
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3550:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol DEBUG_RWSEMS
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3562:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol UNWIND_INFO
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3563:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol STACK_UNWIND
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3578:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol KDB
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3590:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SECURITY_SECLVL
/boot/config-2.6.18.8-0.3-default:3592:warning: trying to assign nonexistent symbol SECURITY_APPARMOR
*
* Linux Kernel Configuration
*
*
* Code maturity level options
*
Prompt for development and/or incomplete code/drivers (EXPERIMENTAL) [Y/n/?] y
*
..................... (cont'd)

Why all those warnings?? (trying to assign nonexistent symbol)

[unchiujar]

To quote form the Gentoo website:
Gentoo Linux Documentation -- Gentoo Linux Kernel Upgrade Guide

"It is sometimes possible to save time by re-using the configuration file from your old kernel when configuring the new one. Note that this is generally unsafe -- too many changes between every kernel release for this to be a reliable upgrade path.

The only situation where this is appropriate is when upgrading from one Gentoo kernel revision to another. For example, the changes made between gentoo-sources-2.6.9-r1 and gentoo-sources-2.6.9-r2 will be very small, so it is usually OK to use the following method. However, it is not appropriate to use it in the example used throughout this document: upgrading from 2.6.8 to 2.6.9. Too many changes between the official releases, and the method described below does not display enough context to the user, often resulting in the user running into problems because they disabled options that they really didn't want to. "

You jumped 3 major revisions....