rpmbuild vs Xconfig

[Tim Writer]

Kihara Muriithi <william.muriithi-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> writes:

> Hi all,
>   I just realised one can use rpmbuild to compile a kernel. I looked
> around for a configuration file, and I wouldn't say I got really far.
> Its a macro based, not the good old text files. Somehow, I still think
> its worth investing sometime playing with it since it does have an
> upper hand in that it does update rpmdb, something Xconfig script
> don't do.
>   I am writing to seek some advice on some preliminary questions. How
> does rpmbuild works? Does it look around to customize the compile to
> the target environment or does it produce generic binaries that I
> could download from fedora website?

rpmbuild is a tool for building RPMs. If you're not familiar with building
RPMs, you probably don't want to cut your teeth building a kernel RPM as
they're quite complicated, pushing rpmbuild to (some would say beyond) its
limits.

> I read man page, but I still can't
> figure out how to choose configuration options to compile a source
> file of kernel that I have downloaded on /usr/src as I would do with
> xconfig.

If you want to rebuild a kernel that is similar to the Fedora kernel, install
the kernel-source RPM (note: this is not the same as the kernel SRPM) and
build that using "make dep", "make config", "make", etc. Often, it's a good
idea to start with the kernel config matching your running kernel which you
can usually find in /boot.

If you want to install a vanilla kernel (from kernel.org), just download and
build according to the instructions in the README.

Hope this helps,

-- 
tim writer <tim-s/rLXaiAEBtBDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org>                                  starnix inc.
647.722.5301                                      toronto, ontario, canada
http://www.starnix.com              professional linux services & products
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