1: Making an EmergencyPlan, or Boot DiskBefore building (Web hosts)
1: Making an EmergencyPlan, or Boot DiskBefore building a custom kernel, you need to makeaboot disk. A boot disk gives you a way back intoyour system in a kernel emergency. If you re running Mandrake or SuSE Linux, you can also create a res- cue disk. A rescue disk is similar to a boot disk, butit also contains diagnostics that can tell you a littlemore about your computer if you run into boot prob- lems. The process of creating a boot (or rescue) diskvaries by distribution. To make a boot disk on a Fedora or Mandrake com- puter, follow these steps: 1.Insert a floppy disk in your drive, open the ter- minal window, and give yourself superuserprivileges. 2.Type the following command: # /sbin/mkbootdisk `uname -r` After some whirring and clicking, your floppy isbootable. 3.To test the floppy (a good idea), shut downcompletely and restart. To make a rescue disk on a Mandrake system, followthis procedure: 1.Insert a floppy disk in your drive, open the ter- minal window, and give yourself superuserprivileges. 2.Type the following command and press Enter: # /sbin/mkrescue3.To test the floppy (a good idea), shut downcompletely and restart. If you re running SuSE Linux, use the YaST controlcenter to create a boot disk or a rescue disk (or both): 1.Open the main menu and choose System.YaST. Reconfiguring Your Kernel Ready, Set, Go! The kernel that s included with the Fedora release isa well-functioning and stable piece of software versatile, dependable, and sturdy. But what if itdoesn t include the functionality you need? No problem you can just rebuild it. Stick with us, and we ll show you how to make it bigger, better, andstronger . . . whatever you need. The process of rebuilding your kernel involves sev- eral steps, and each step is covered in the followingsections. Here s an overview of the process: 1.Make a boot disk. 2.Find the source code. 3.Configure the new kernel. 4.Customize the kernel. 5.And, finally, build the kernel. Peeling onionsThe Linux operating system is like an onion. If you peelaway the outer layers (the KDE desktop, the bash shell, andso on), you find a layer of operating system libraries. Thelibraries provide commonly used functions that enableapplications to find things like the current date, the IPaddress of a given host, and so on. Underneath the library layer is a set of system calls, which arefunctions that perform low-level operations like changingyour user ID, allocating more memory, and opening a file. At the core of the onion, you find the kernel. The kerneluses device drivers to manage system hardware. The kernelalso schedules disk I/O and CPU usage, responds to exter- nal signals, creates and tears down processes, and performsother low-level operations. But the kernel itself is layered, too. The Linux kernel has a portable layer that runs on anycomputer. At the very center of the onion is a hardware- dependent layer that is customized for each CPU (Intel x86, PowerPC, StrongARM, and so on).
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