Installing kernel using gentoo-sources

[lyallp]

Could someone please point me to the instructions for installing gentoo-sources, building and installing.

For YEARS I have been installing gentoo-sources, compiling and make installing it followed by grub-mkconfig and rebuilding nvidia-drivers.

Now, it doesn't work and my system is broken due to my attempts to fix it.

I gather it's something to do with this 'installkernel' package?

I can boot and mount my system using a USB image so really, all I need is what packages to install, how to configure and what to do when there is a kernel update.

I have an existing .config file in the kernel source, which has been working for me for years. I tried replacing that with the kernel config used in the USB Install iso, to no avail, things are broken everywhere, as I have turned on and off features over the years.

So, I would really like to continue using my existing .config with whatever the new build/install process is.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
_________________
...Lyall

[fedeliallalinea]

I think you missed this news item.
_________________
Questions are guaranteed in life; Answers aren't.

[logrusx]

Maybe one of those news items will answer your questions:

https://www.gentoo.org/support/news-items/2024-03-12-debianutils-installkernel.html
https://www.gentoo.org/support/news-items/2024-02-01-grub-upgrades.html

In the mean time aside from not being able to boot which is too general, it's not clear what specific issue you have and what you have done to get there, so you could explain a bit more.

Best Regards,
Georgi

[lyallp]

At this point grub runs, I select my kernel and the kernel panics not being able to mount root.
At one point I had things booting but the kernel installed modules into -x86_64 folders and the kernel looked in my old modules folder, and as such, nvidia was out of sync resulting in X not starting
Installing using make install_modules puts the modules in /usr/lib/modules/vmlinuz-xxxxxx-x86_64 but the make install creates a vmlinuz file in /boot, which grub does not find
I tried renaming things and now I am back to kernel panics.
So what I want to do is start from scratch with regard to kernel install.
What I have to install, what config settings I need to use, what commands I need to run to install the kernel successfully such that
0. it doesn't panic on boot - my root filesystem is BTRFS
1. grub finds it
2. it looks in the correct folder for modules

Ideally I would like to continue using my existing kernel .config as I have things like bluetooth, firewalls, virtualisation, sound, etc setup.

It was all working fine before.
My install is years old and I do nightly updates and build new kernels as they arrive with no issues, until now.
_________________
...Lyall

[lyallp]

[pietinger]

[lyallp]

Been doing kernel configuration since early this century.

All good regarding 'oldconfig'.

I have done something with my installkernel config during my attempts to fix it.

installkernel is creating kernel images suffixed with a type suffix, when it did not used to, and although my .config has the correct firewall modules, iptables is not starting, so failtoban is not starting either. The required modules are set to 'Y', not 'M' because I know they will be used.

Also, installkernel is creating a initramfs, when it didn't before, I suspect this is because dracut is installed, despite the use flag for installkernel telling it not to. I also have to experment with removing dracut before rebuilding.

X wont start, I suspect nvidia-drivers is not putting its modules in the newly named modules folder - though I have not proven that yet (I will have another look this evening).

Finally, I have tried deleting the entire /usr/lib/modules folder contents, blowing away everything in /boot that is created by the kernel install and re-building.

My next step is to restore my .config from a backup and repeat the whole build process.

After that, uninstalling gentoo-sources, blowing the whole folder away and re-installing sources and re-building, just in case something got tweaked in the source tree.
_________________
...Lyall

[lyallp]

Ok,
1. restored .config from a backup a few months back
2. deleted all /usr/lib/module contents
3. deleted all top level files in /boot
4. linux kernel
4.0 make clean
4.1 make oldconfig
4.2 make -j 6
4.3 make modules_install && make install
4.4 grub-install /dev/sdb
4.5 grub-mkdconfig > /boot/grub/grub.cfg
5. Built kernel dependant programs
5.1 nvidia-drivers
5.2 docker
5.3 virtualbox-modules
7. Rebooted

It boots now, X starts, apps start, things all look good except firefox, which is one of the things that started me down this whole track.

Firefox115.10.0(esr) hangs - it does not render pages, and, after a minute or two of 100% CPU, simply stops.

I should mention I have refreshed firefox, tried starting with --safe-mode, to no avail.

I am using konqueror to post this message.

I tried re-building firefox.
I even tried re-building firefox with --empty-tree!

libxul is whining, so maybe I will try re-building that.

stdout is as follows

[logrusx]

emerge --info

Best Regards,
Georgi

[lyallp]

Your wish is my command...

I should mention I have my entire system built with debug symbols, whilst my firefox was generating cores at the rate of about 5 per day.

[AndrewAmmerlaan]

[lyallp]

I have not overriden the installkernel in /etc/kernel

The i386_x64 suffix has gone now, I have no idea why it was there in the first place. Possibly I uninstalled installkernel and re-installed it with the new use flags, rather than simply re-installing with changed use flags.

I have restored my .config from an even newer backup (I remembered it after the fact) and will see how the next reboot goes, after I have finished rebuilding glibc and firefox and installing chrome, in case firefox does not work.

All of this rebuilding won't finish till early tomorrow.

If both Chromium and Firefox don't work, I have more serious problems, Konqueror is not preferred.

I appreciate any feedback as I work through this, probably self inflicted, mess.
_________________
...Lyall

[AndrewAmmerlaan]

[logrusx]

[lyallp]

My restored .config has....

[figueroa]

here is a little reminder guide I made for myself. Note: I never run make install for a kernel. I always manually copy the needed files to /boot. Reference at your own risk:

[lyallp]

I have been using a script 'Rebuild_Install_Kernel.sh' for a few years now....

The only change has been removing the PARTUUID replacement during grub-config during this whole rebuild issue.

[figueroa]

There really are very few, logical, and easy steps to upgrade gentoo-sources, I barely have to think about it. It's become muscle memory. The only issue with handing such jobs off to scripts is forgetting how to do these relatively easy things, and it may lead to inattention.
_________________
Andy Figueroa
hp pavilion hpe h8-1260t/2AB5; spinning rust x3
i7-2600 @ 3.40GHz; 16 gb; Radeon HD 7570
amd64/23.0/split-usr/desktop (stable), OpenRC, -systemd -pulseaudio -uefi