Monday

Compiling and Installing a Kernel

The preceding discussion has covered the most vital options you’ll encounter in configuring a kernel to use the networking protocols on your network, and the hardware you use to connect a computer to that network. The administer of compiling the kernel, but, is another matter, and one that’s not, exactingly speaking, a networking task. Nonetheless, this task is vital if you need to recompile your kernel to add or rub out support for specific network features, so this part provides an overview of some of the decisions and procedures caught up.

Don’t adjust only the options described earlier in this chapter and then compile your kernel. Although they’re further than the scope of this book, kernel options relating to features like EIDE controllers, SCSI host adapters, and disk filesystems are critically vital for a functioning Linux computer. If you incorrectly configure these features, your computer may not boot at all, or it may go in a substandard way (for instance, with very poor disk speed). These options are discussed in documents such as the Linux Kernel HOWTO at http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Kernel-HOWTO.html (amongst many other places) and many general Linux books.

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