On Wed, 21 Mar 2001, Neil Hollow wrote:
> To give an example in my own case I added a SCSI card and cdwriter to my
> machine and I've ordered a USB printer. Since neither of these devices was
> connected to my machine when I installed my RH distro then neither of them
> was supported in the kernel I downloaded a more recent kernel and compiled
> it. Personally (and I'm sure other people on the list may disagree) I can
> see no pint in recompiling unless:
>
> a) your existing kernel has a serious bug in it
>
> b) you add hardware that is obvously not supported.
>
> Maybe someone on the list can answer a question that has puzzled me- what
> happens on installation is linux seems to generate a custom kernel specific
> to your needs but without recompilation -howso? NH.
>
>
The stock kernel is a bear kernel with most of the drivers compiled as
modules. What the install program does is set up /etc/modules.conf (or
/etc/conf.modules) with pointers to the correct modules for your
hardware. If you need a modules to access your / file system, it then
creates a RAM disk with that module on it, so that the system can boot.
When you add hardware after the install, you have to tell the system
what modules it needs to load to access the hardware. If you have Kudzu
set to run on boot, it will usualy detect the new hardware and ask you
if you want to set it up. (The message in red about hitting a key
with the timeout counter.) You do not normaly need to compile a new
kernel when you add new hardware.
Reasions for compiling a custom kernel: Including the drivers for
accessing your root file system, so you do not need an initial RAM disk.
You can also eliminate features you do not need for your installation.
If you machine is a server, inside a firewall, you do not need to be
able to do IP masquarding. If you do not have any Netware servers, then
you do not need IPX suport.
You may also want to build in the drivers for the hardware you use all
the time. For example, I have a server with a Symbios SCSI card, a
Tulip-based NIC, no printer, or IDE devices, and no sound card. Si I
compiled a kernel with the SCSI driver, and the old tulip driver, but
without IDE, sound or parrellel port support. The only NIC modules I
have are for my backup NIC, (In case my spare Tulip NICs are in use.)
By not having a lot of modules that I will never use, depmod -a takes no
time at all. And because the drivers that I knnow I will need every
time I boot are build into the kernel, I know the system will be usable
even if someone manages to wipe out the modules directory for the
current kernel. Worst case, I boot of the boot floppy.
Mikkel
--
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,
for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
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