Re: how to compile a kernel?

[sharkey@superk.physics.sunysb.edu]

> > Well, that brings us full circle to the question I originally asked,
> > which was, "Is there a kernel compilation HOWTO for sparc(64)?"
> 
> Not that I know of..... have you checked the LDP?

Yes, of course.

But this doesn't really justify a HOWTO on its own.  I think it would make
a useful addition to the existing Kernel HOWTO.  Unfortunately, its currently
described as:

  a detailed guide to kernel configuration, compilation, upgrades,
  and troubleshooting for ix86-based systems.
                          ^^^^
This sounds like an unnecessarily narrow focus to me.

> > I read through the Makefiles.  It seems the only differnce, AFAICT, is that
> > you need to use the make target "vmlinux" rather than "bzImage" and that
> > you end up with an uncompressed kernel image, which you can manually compress
> > with gzip.  At least, that's what I ended up doing, and it seemed to work.
> > I don't know if there is some more elegant way.  This sort of thing should
> > be documented somewhere.
> 
> Well, I'd be happy to add such info if someone gives me some firmer data.

As I've been using Ultra-Linux for less than one week now, I'm really
not qualified to comment on this.

It seems to me that these differences are entirely cosmetic.  I can't see
why the sparc Makefiles can't be augmented to also include a zImage or
bzImage target and create compressed kernel images, as the i386 Makefiles
do now.  An alternative approach to documenting the differences in compiling
for sparc would be to eliminate them.  This might be the better in the long
run. 

Eric