menuconfig or genkernel?

Message

Napalm Llama · Post by **Napalm Llama** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:35 pm

Hi - I was just wondering - how do people make their kernels?

I use the "make menuconfig" method myself, because it gives me the most choice. genkernel seems a bit un-Gentooish to me, in that it does everything for you and leaves you with a slower boot and loads of unnecessary bloat (correct me if I'm wrong).

So vote in the poll to say which you use, or post in the thread if you use some other method and I'll add that to the poll for you, as well.

[edit:]
Gah, turns out I'm not able to edit the poll now that people have voted in it. Ah well. I guess if you use something else then just shout it in big bold letters!

mannygentoo · Post by **mannygentoo** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:51 pm

err... i think genkernel is a gentoo only tool --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genkernel so it can't be un-Gentooish

If you mean that it does'nt seem to belong in Gentoo, then ignore my post
other than that, i agree with you

durian · Post by **durian** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:57 pm

Used to do by hand, but lately I've been using the genkernel method.

-peter

Napalm Llama · Post by **Napalm Llama** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 8:01 pm

Yup, that is what I meant by "un-Gentooish".

I was afraid of rolling my own kernel when I first tried Gentoo, but fortunately the genkernel one failed to boot for some reason. So I was forced to learn menuconfig, and I'm glad of it - if I hadn't been, I'd probably still be using genkernel today, out of sheer laziness.

Q-collective · Post by **Q-collective** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:01 pm

Always used menuconfig.

Shan · Post by **Shan** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:04 pm

The only times I've used genkernel was when I first started using gentoo (I was a RH8ish convert) and didn't know jack squat about Linux (Thanks Red Hat!) and right now for my new powerbook simply because I don't know all of the hardware and config options I need yet. Once I'm up and running fully I'll make my own .config and go from there.

EDIT: As for genkernel being "ungentoo" I've got to disagree. The gentoo philosopy is choice, and for some users that choice is to NOT make choices (EG the GUI installer and genkernel). As for its bloatyness AFAIK it shouldn't be any more bloated than a hand-rolled one as everything should be built as modules to be loaded as needed but I could be wrong.

Dieter@be · Post by **Dieter@be** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:17 pm

Shan wrote:The gentoo philosopy is choice, and for some users that choice is to NOT make choices (EG the GUI installer and genkernel).

² that (nice paradox though)

oh and menuconfig btw, never used genkernel, and probably never will (no need to)

skellr · Post by **skellr** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:40 pm

menuconfig
Sometimes oldconfig if it's just a revision.

Napalm Llama · Post by **Napalm Llama** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:41 pm

Shan wrote:The gentoo philosopy is choice, and for some users that choice is to NOT make choices

No, I don't agree with that. If you don't want choice you'd be better off installing Ubuntu, or any of the other newb-oriented distros out there. I mean, why use a distro that gives you all this choice if you're just going to throw it away? You may as well make it official.

Shan · Post by **Shan** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 10:46 pm

Napalm Llama wrote:
Shan wrote:The gentoo philosopy is choice, and for some users that choice is to NOT make choices
No, I don't agree with that. If you don't want choice you'd be better off installing Ubuntu, or any of the other newb-oriented distros out there. I mean, why use a distro that gives you all this choice if you're just going to throw it away? You may as well make it official.

Lack of choice != Newb. My girlfriend uses gentoo but she probably couldn't even tell you what she has for a processor. She uses it because its very easy to get a system tweaked for what she wants to do, not what some dev thinks most people want. Tell me why she should be forced to use an inadequate distro that doesn't fit her needs when gentoo does AND has the tools to make it friendly for her? As I said gentoo is about choice and if you choose not to use tools that are made available then that is your choice. Nobody is forcing them upon you.

chrismortimore · Post by **chrismortimore** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 10:54 pm

Shan wrote:As for its bloatyness AFAIK it shouldn't be any more bloated than a hand-rolled one as everything should be built as modules to be loaded as needed but I could be wrong.

Am I right in saying that having a completely modular kernel causes some (albeit hardly noticeable) slow down? I vaguely recall reading that somewhere... I'm not sure if that is just because of the time taken to coldplug everything or because modules actually run slower than their compiled-in counterparts though...

I use a combination of "make menuconfig" and "cp [OLD KERNEL]/.config [NEW KERNEL]/.config", always have and always will, unless there is a tool that builds kernels based on the output of "lspci", "lsusb" and other such handy tools

geniux · Post by **geniux** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:01 pm

menuconfig, always done and always will do that

Well, the smaller kernel the faster system

Old School · Post by **Old School** » Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:52 pm

I use menuconfig now but started out using genkernel due to lack of experience building kernels.
So I started off just using genkernel, then with the menuconfig option where I was able to "feel" my way around and prune away the unneccesary stuff.
after a while I was comforable to use menuconfig.

yabbadabbadont · Post by **yabbadabbadont** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:32 am

I always use menuconfig to build a monolithic kernel. Well, except for a few things that _need_ to be modules.

Napalm Llama · Post by **Napalm Llama** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:49 am

Shan wrote:As I said gentoo is about choice and if you choose not to use tools that are made available then that is your choice. Nobody is forcing them upon you.

Fair point.

Although I suspect that if your girlfriend's PC is tweaked to her exact needs, it wasn't setup using the "easy-making" tools...

aidanjt · Post by **aidanjt** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:56 am

chrismortimore wrote:Am I right in saying that having a completely modular kernel causes some (albeit hardly noticeable) slow down? I vaguely recall reading that somewhere... I'm not sure if that is just because of the time taken to coldplug everything or because modules actually run slower than their compiled-in counterparts though...

I use a combination of "make menuconfig" and "cp [OLD KERNEL]/.config [NEW KERNEL]/.config", always have and always will, unless there is a tool that builds kernels based on the output of "lspci", "lsusb" and other such handy tools

Yes, you're totally correct, having a totally modular kernel a) requires initrd (initial ramdisk) to detect the mass storage system for mounting root and other gimmicks. and b) .so kernel modules incur code size (and other) overhead which slightly increases latency in using those modules. Compiled-in kernel code has no such dependency on initrd, or code linking, and management overhead. However, on the other hand, kernel modules makes some userland subsystems less of a hassle, such as lm_sensors, and ALSA, to name but a few. And if one were to take modularity to the extreames of Minix, there's considerable security benifits, and a much more manageable kernel.

As a rule of thumb, I compile in anything I use more than 90% of the time, or require it for booting, else, I build as a module, if I never need it, it gets discarded of course.

Sourcecode · Post by **Sourcecode** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:00 am

Q-collective wrote:Always used menuconfig.

dito.

i92guboj · Post by **i92guboj** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:05 am

menuconfig/oldconfig

kg4ysy · Post by **kg4ysy** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:41 am

I use the following

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genkernel --debuglevel=5 --kernel-config=/root/x --menuconfig all

that kinda mixes the two together and keeps me from having to type in the stuff to compile the kernel...

arpunk · Post by **arpunk** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:49 am

I use

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genkernel --menuconfig all

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 2:58 am

Genkernel!?! You kids are spoiled now!

(The above only applies to those younger than 20, otherwise I'd have to call you old people :p)

I started using Gentoo...a long time ago, when it was Gentoo 1.2...I think. Maybe 1.4. Back then, you pretty much had to do everything yourself, which coming from Redhat and company, was quite the challenge. However, I was so naive, I rolled my own kernel and had a system booted before I even knew what the hell I had done. When my computer booted up, the first thing I did was go to my friend who preached Debian, and told him, "rolling my own kernel wasn't hard, what the hell were you talking about?"

make menuconfig/oldconfig are the only way I use Gentoo. It's by far the cleanest, it makes you learn a lot about how the computer works, and unless you're either lazy or administering a bajillion different computers, I don't really see any excuses to not use menuconfig. Keep in mind, being lazy is a perfectly good reason and I'm not dissing anyone who is lazy

. It's my personal belief that part of the "Gentoo ideal" is to teach people a little bit about Linux by making them do a bit of work on their own.

shickapooka800 · Post by **shickapooka800** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 3:01 am

I have never used genkernel, and seeing the small little anoyances people have, I am glad I never did.

Even My very first gentoo experience (total failure), I used menuconfig. to be honest, I have never even read the genkernel portion of the handbook!

mark_alec · Post by **mark_alec** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:55 am

menuconfig

petrjanda · Post by **petrjanda** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:25 am

The BSD way is as usually better.

erikm · Post by **erikm** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:37 am

Hmm... I always use genkernel, but never without menuconfig? Genkernel remembers the 'make clean && make mrproper..' etc. sequence for me, and jumps through the initrd hoops (thank God) but I would never leave the configuration up to anyone (or -thing) else.

menuconfig or genkernel?

How do you roll your kernel?

menuconfig or genkernel?