Building a Custom Kernel

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If you use LILO for loading the kernel there are several steps necessary for

safe installation of the new kernel.

1. First copy the old kernel to /boot/vmlinuz.old

2. Next copy the new kernel to /boot/vmlinuz

3. Modify the link /vmlinuz to point to the new kernel

4. Modify lilo.conf to provide another tag

5. Run LILO

Simply copying the new kernel over the old, will not result in the desired effect.

Copying the old kernel to a separate location and copying the new kernel into

the old slot also doesn't quite get the desired result, even though this is the

correct first step.

Once the files have been moved, LILO still needs to be informed of the

changes. When lilo is run, it reads its configuration information from the

file /etc/lilo.conf, so, to inform LILO of the change in kernels it is necessary

to edit/create this file. If the file starts out like:

# /etc/lilo.conf     single Linux installation.

boot=/dev/hda1

root=/dev/hda1

compact

install=/boot/boot.b

map=/boot/map

vga=normal

delay=20

image=/vmlinux

root=/dev/hda1

label=Linux

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