N2100 Building a new Kernel

Download the latest kernel from http://www.kernel.org, or patch a kernel tree with the latest patches. You can use 'ketchup' which downloads and applies the patches automatically. For the kernel kernel sourcetree:

• make iop32x_defconfig (only basic settings) or better copy .config from the debian iop32x kernel header package to /usr/src/linux and compare the kernel configuration
• make
• make modules_install
• cp arch/arm/boot/zImage /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.xx-myversion
• cp /user/src/linux/System.map /boot/System.map

For the initramfs

• update-initramfs -k 2.6.xx-myversion -c

Be patient! Unless your kernel is stripped down to the absolute minimum you should expect a clean build to take four hours.

You can also use an installkernel script, to automate the kernel image copy and run update-initramfs. This will avoid mistakes like omitting the vital -c option. Create a script called installkernel and place it in your ~/bin. The script will receive four arguments:

• $1 - kernel version
• $2 - kernel image file
• $3 - kernel map file
• $4 - default install path (blank if root directory)

In the script you can copy the kernel binary to /boot, run update-initramfs and possibly copy the files over to your tftp server ready for a network boot.

If you like to flash the kernel you can use the command

• flash-kernel 2.6.x-iop32x

(The current versions of flash kernel checks the sub architecture, by checking the name of the kernel with the system hardware)