[Techtalk] Kernel Building (was Re: Simply Hardware 3B)

[Dave North]

Telsa:
> If it turns out this is a perfect kernel, you can save a copy of
> this .config somewhere, and use it as a base for future upgrades.
> I forget the details because I always forget to save the
> wretched file so rarely do it :)

This is a wonderful trick! Just save the best .config for any particular
machine anywhere you want. When you unpack the new source, copy the
.config to the new source directory and:
	make oldconfig
...which will only ask you about those parts of the configuration file
that are not in your current .config.
	That careful wording is because you can actually backrev like this
(at least, it works for me). Which is to say, if you have a .config for
2.4.19 and want to build a 2.4.17 from it, you can follow the same
procedure and it will ask you about the stuff that was left out of 2.4.19!
	No doubt that one will eventually bite me in the butt. So far,
though, no problem. Maybe it should be make diffconfig. Or maybe I
shouldn't play so fast and loose with kernels.
	Nah.


d