Re: How to customize the kernel

[Marius Bakke]

Chris Marusich <address@hidden> writes:

> Is anyone building custom kernels?  How are you doing it?  Are you just
> using the "make-linux-libre" procedure anyway, despite the fact that it
> supposedly isn't public?  Did you copy it and just modify it to suit
> your needs?  Or did you do something totally different?

 Here is my approach:

  --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
  (define-module (my packages)
    #:use-module (gnu packages linux))

  (define kernel-config
    (string-append (dirname (current-filename)) "/kernel.config"))

  (define-public my-kernel
    (package
      (inherit linux-libre)
      (native-inputs
       `(("kconfig" ,kernel-config)
         ,@(alist-delete "kconfig"
                         (package-native-inputs linux-libre))))))

  (use-modules (my packages))
  (operating-system
    [...]
    (kernel my-kernel)
  --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

 This lets me keep the kernel .config in version control along with the
 system configuration.

 > I am new to compiling the Linux kernel, so it is doubly difficult to
 > learn how I should do it using Guix.  Any tips would be greatly
 > appreciated.  I'm guessing one tip might be, "Try building a few Linux
 > kernels on a more normal distribution, not using Guix, a few times to
 > get the hang of doing it the 'traditional' way first."  I have not
 > really done that yet.

 Working with custom kernels in Guix is simpler than in many other
 distros IMO.  Suppose you have a patched Linux-Libre tree, then you
 could add e.g.:

   (source "/path/to/custom/kernel")

 to the package declaration above.  Be aware that rolling back to the
 previous generation might not work if your computer implodes ;-)

 For starting out, I would recommend copying the GuixSD default config[*]
 to /your/kernel/tree/.config and run:

   guix environment linux-libre --ad-hoc ncurses -- make nconfig

 This will present a nice ncurses-based interface for configuring the
 kernel.  Note that if the kernel major+minor is higher than the .config
 (see top of file), you should run `make oldconfig` first which gives an
 interactive "wizard" that walks you through all the new options.

 Good luck! :-)

 [*] You can also start from `make defconfig` if you feel adventurous.

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