Re: [gentoo-user] Boot hangs after install, no error

[Bill Longman]

On 06/21/2010 12:01 PM, Dale wrote:
> Alex Schuster wrote:
>> Dale writes:
>>
>>
>>> I don't use genkernel anymore.  I just roll my own. That way, I know
>>> what is in there and what is not.  Then if something doesn't work, I
>>> know if it is the kernel or something else.  With genkernel, you won't
>>> have a clue what it is since you don't know much if anything about the
>>> kernel and how it is configured.
>>>
>> That's not necessarily true. When I create a new kernel, I copy
>> /usr/src/linux/.config into the new kernel directory, make oldconfig and
>> menuconfig just as I like my kernel to be, and recreate the linux symlink
>> to the new kernel directory. Then I do a genkernel --install --lvm --luks
>> all&&  emerge -a @module-rebuild, and am done.
>> I never noticed genkernel changing anything in my configuration, .config,
>> /proc/config.gz and the stuff in /etc/kernels/ are identical. Until not
>> long ago, I did not even know that genkernel was intended to create a
>> working kernel from scratch.
>>
>>     Wonko
>>
>>
>
> I always do mine this way.  I copy the .config from the old kernel to
> the new kernel, run make oldconfig then afterwards make all && make
> modules_install and then copy the kernel to /boot with my own numbering
> system.  That way I know which version and series the kernel is.  After
> that, edit grub with the new kernel and I'm done.  I have only had that
> fail once in the past six years or so and the kernel made some serious
> changes and I had to start from scratch that one time.   They moved
> things around and oldconfig couldn't reorganize things on the new kernel.
>
> Point being, genkernal causes issues for people and they don't know how
> to fix it because they expect genkernel to do everything.  Problem with
> that is that usually when someone has a kernel problem, they use
> genkernel.  If they do their own, it just works.  Now someone new to
> building a kernel may need some help but apparently genkernel needs some
> help anyway.  May as well learn how to roll your own.  This is Gentoo
> after all.

The only thing that genkernel would add is your initrd. The kernel is
exactly the same, whether you compile it with "make" or through
"genkernel". Do a test and you'll see. (I'm assuming we're both talking
about gentoo-sources, not vanilla-sources. Either way, they'd be the
same.) Some might be confused about what happens in the steps if they
haven't been down the "kernel compilation trail" more than once or
twice, but for folks who just want to compile their kernel and plop it
into place, along with a hands-off initrd, it's rather handy.