Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst

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14   Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across
17   It has all the features you would expect in a modern fully-fledged Unix,
19   loading, shared copy-on-write executables, proper memory management,
22   It is distributed under the GNU General Public License v2 - see the
26 -----------------------------
28   Although originally developed first for 32-bit x86-based PCs (386 or higher),
31   IBM S/390, MIPS, HP PA-RISC, Intel IA-64, DEC VAX, AMD x86-64 Xtensa, and
34   Linux is easily portable to most general-purpose 32- or 64-bit architectures
40   userspace application - this is called UserMode Linux (UML).
43 -------------
45  - There is a lot of documentation available both in electronic form on
46    the Internet and in books, both Linux-specific and pertaining to
52  - There are various README files in the Documentation/ subdirectory:
53    these typically contain kernel-specific installation notes for some
55    :ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>` file, as it
60 ----------------------------
62  - If you install the full sources, put the kernel tarball in a
66      xz -cd linux-6.x.tar.xz | tar xvf -
73    whatever the kernel-du-jour happens to be.
75  - You can also upgrade between 6.x releases by patching.  Patches are
78    (linux-6.x) and execute::
80      xz -cd ../patch-6.x.xz | patch -p1
84    the backup files (some-file-name~ or some-file-name.orig), and make sure
85    that there are no failed patches (some-file-name# or some-file-name.rej).
89    (also known as the -stable kernels) are not incremental but instead apply
94    patch -R) **before** applying the 6.0.3 patch. You can read more on this in
95    :ref:`Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst <applying_patches>`.
97    Alternatively, the script patch-kernel can be used to automate this
101      linux/scripts/patch-kernel linux
107  - Make sure you have no stale .o files and dependencies lying around::
115 ---------------------
117    Compiling and running the 6.x kernels requires up-to-date
119    :ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>` for the minimum version numbers
127 ------------------------------
135      kernel source code: /usr/src/linux-6.x
140      cd /usr/src/linux-6.x
149 ----------------------
158  - Alternative configuration commands are::
238    in Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst.
240  - NOTES on ``make config``:
242     - Having unnecessary drivers will make the kernel bigger, and can
246     - A kernel with math-emulation compiled in will still use the
252     - The "kernel hacking" configuration details usually result in a
260 --------------------
262  - Make sure you have at least gcc 5.1 available.
263    For more information, refer to :ref:`Documentation/process/changes.rst <changes>`.
265  - Do a ``make`` to create a compressed kernel image. It is also
272  - If you configured any of the parts of the kernel as ``modules``, you
275  - Verbose kernel compile/build output:
288  - Keep a backup kernel handy in case something goes wrong.  This is
300  - In order to boot your new kernel, you'll need to copy the kernel
304  - Booting a kernel directly from a floppy without the assistance of a
308    uses the kernel image as specified in the file /etc/lilo.conf.  The
316    You may wish to edit /etc/lilo.conf to specify an entry for your
328  - Reboot with the new kernel and enjoy.
331 -----------------------
334 instructions at 'Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst'.
337 'Documentation/admin-guide/bug-hunting.rst'. More on debugging the kernel
338 with gdb is in 'Documentation/dev-tools/gdb-kernel-debugging.rst' and
339 'Documentation/dev-tools/kgdb.rst'.