building linux kernel

building linux kernel

[ranjith kumar]

Hi,

I am using fedora11 on my PC. I downloaded the linux kernel souce code.
I copied config file from /boot directory and tried to compile. I am
getting some compilation errors.
So  I configured the kernel, with 'make defconfig', and it is
compiling successfully.
But when I am booting my machine with new kernel, it simply starts and
displays '-' at top of the screen. nothing more.

My question is are fedora and linux kernel are connected or  not? If so how?
I thinks linux kernel runs for a while, when it is booted. But after
that control comes to fedora.

For example, in Fedora we can play chess.Windows are
displayed.......etc ...many graphical things are there.
I don't think that these gaphics, chess game.....are not part of linux kernel.
Am I right?

Also, some time back when I was using fedora10, I configured linux
kernel with /boot/ config file. I successfully compiled and run new
linux kernel.
When I boot with new kernel, it is still going into fedora. But when I
run uname command it is showing new kernel version. But how come I was
able to play chess game? chess game is not part of kernel.


So if you got what I am asking, please tell me how to disconnect
fedora and linux kernel? So when I boot with new kernel only kernel's
things  should be running. not fedora's chess game. How to disconnect
them?

Thanks in advance

Re: building linux kernel

[Florian Mickler]

Hi,

On Tue, 25 May 2010 16:50:31 +0530
ranjith kumar <ranjithproxy@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I am using fedora11 on my PC. I downloaded the linux kernel souce code.
> I copied config file from /boot directory and tried to compile. I am
> getting some compilation errors.
> So  I configured the kernel, with 'make defconfig', and it is
> compiling successfully.
> But when I am booting my machine with new kernel, it simply starts and
> displays '-' at top of the screen. nothing more.
> 
> My question is are fedora and linux kernel are connected or  not? If so how?
> I thinks linux kernel runs for a while, when it is booted. But after
> that control comes to fedora.
> 
> For example, in Fedora we can play chess.Windows are
> displayed.......etc ...many graphical things are there.
> I don't think that these gaphics, chess game.....are not part of linux kernel.
> Am I right?
> 
> Also, some time back when I was using fedora10, I configured linux
> kernel with /boot/ config file. I successfully compiled and run new
> linux kernel.
> When I boot with new kernel, it is still going into fedora. But when I
> run uname command it is showing new kernel version. But how come I was
> able to play chess game? chess game is not part of kernel.
> 
> 
> So if you got what I am asking, please tell me how to disconnect
> fedora and linux kernel? So when I boot with new kernel only kernel's
> things  should be running. not fedora's chess game. How to disconnect
> them?
> 
> Thanks in advance

Put init=/bin/sh on the kernel commandline to start directly into a
basic shell (instead of the complex "fedora"). 

The kernel is an abstraction layer, so that your chess game
(or /bin/sh) runs on all possible hardware. The kernel provides
mechanisms for the chess games (also known as a "userspace program") to
use the hardware, without knowing what hardware it is running on.

This is all basic system architecture. I didn't read the wikipedia
article on operating systems, but it i hope it is a good start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operating_system

Cheers,
Flo

p.s.: you may wanna post any follow on questions on kernel-newbies
mailinglist (kernelnewbies@nl.linux.org) , as lkml is mainly for
developing and not so much for explanation of basic system
architecture. 

Re: building linux kernel

[Américo Wang]

On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 04:50:31PM +0530, ranjith kumar wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I am using fedora11 on my PC. I downloaded the linux kernel souce code.
>I copied config file from /boot directory and tried to compile. I am
>getting some compilation errors.

Which version of kernel did you download?


>So  I configured the kernel, with 'make defconfig', and it is
>compiling successfully.


This may be dangerous, because default config may not contain
the drivers needed by your machine.

You should copy the fedora config and then do 'make oldconfig',
or you can use 'make localmodconfig' if you are compiling
a recent kernel.

>
>Also, some time back when I was using fedora10, I configured linux
>kernel with /boot/ config file. I successfully compiled and run new
>linux kernel.

This is what supposed to be.