[gentoo-user] Re: make menuconfig

[James]

James <wireless <at> tampabay.rr.com> writes:


>  <vetrocemento <at> gmail.com> writes:
<in private email to me, which I choose to post here:

"thanks for precious link to the wiki.
though, I was lookin for advices to maintain kernel size as small as possible
(and have a fast 
boot up), not simply to configure it, but the wiki is pretty exhaustive, so I'll
use it to make some 
.configs and test them.
again, thanks 
             G "

Well, you are welcome. We that use gentoo are very proud of
our distro, event tho we argue amongst ourselves, it's to make
gentoo better for everyone to use.....

Using gentoo is not easy, as you have 100% control over your
hardware and OS.

That said, I posted what I posted to make a point, that we (imho)
need documentation other than genkernel for folks to use to
address issues such as you have articulated. I'm not saying
it would be easy, but, that questions on kernel building come
up time and time again.....

If you have specific questions, please ask them on this list.
Despite the fact that 'old hacks' take pot-shots at one another,
your questions are our concern; so don't be shy about asking
for help on this group. After all, most folks on this list
have learned to ignore my musings, unless it merits additional
verbiage.


Now, how to make a small kernel. Well for starters you can add -Os
such as what I have done for this 586 machine this
line to your make.conf file:

CFLAGS="-Os -march=i586 "

the -Os is to build a small kernel, here is some links that will help:

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/html_single/Module-HOWTO/#AEN73

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/kernel-upgrade.xml

http://gentoo-wiki.com/Safe_Cflags


< there is some urls that further discuss the -Os option for
building small, but I cannot find them. Maybe someone else
will add these links to this thread, or you can google them
directly>

As far as make menuconfig, just use loadable modules to keep the
kernel size small, and eliminate as much as you can. Eliminate
a few items, rebuild a kernel and test frequently. Continue (repeat)
until you get a small, fast kernel that runs on your limited
resources as you like.

As far as fast booting, check into the parallel booting (whatever)
that is fairly new. I have not explored it yet, but, others
on this list know about speeding up the boot process.


hth,

James