Ubuntu Oneiric Kernel Compilation

This tries to document how to build custom kernel for amd64 architecture the ubuntu way.

Install dependencies

These dependencies are required for building linux kernel

sudo apt-get install fakeroot build-essential crash kexec-tools makedumpfile kernel-wedge libncurses5 binutils-dev libelf-dev libdw-dev libnewt-dev libncurses5-dev

sudo apt-get --no-install-recommends install asciidoc xmlto

sudo apt-get build-dep linux

Get kernel source code

Create a new folder/directory, this should be in a partition which has atleast 10 GB free space 

mkdir Builds

cd Builds

apt-get source linux-image-$(uname -r)

Work on copy of the kernel source

Take a copy of the kernel downloaded. By mistake some setting is changed, we can work on another fresh copy

cp linux-3.0.0 linux -r

cd linux

Create a new flavour

Here is giving execute permissions to debian build scripts before creating a new flavour

#make debian/rules as executable

chmod -Rv +x debian/rules

#make debian/scripts directory executable

chmod -Rv +x debian/scripts/

Here I create an i7 flavour (which should run on i3, i5 and i7)

#create i7 flavor

cp debian.master/config/amd64/config.flavour.generic debian.master/config/amd64/config.flavour.i7

#clean

fakeroot debian/rules clean

fakeroot debian/rules updateconfigs

Here is the place where we give kernel configuration (I changed kernel frequency from 250 HZ to 300 HZ and changed processor to CORE2)

#give y only to i7 flavor, leave the rest untouched

fakeroot debian/rules editconfigs

The following are to do with the ABI settings which we clone from existing Ubuntu and modify just the names to reflect our flavour

#copy the abi entries for i7 flavor and add i7 entries in vars and amd64.mk

cp debian.master/abi/3.0.0-12.19/amd64/generic debian.master/abi/3.0.0-12.19/amd64/i7

cp debian.master/abi/3.0.0-12.19/amd64/generic.modules debian.master/abi/3.0.0-12.19/amd64/i7.modules

sed -i s/getall\ amd64\ generic\ server\ virtual/getall\ amd64\ generic\ server\ virtual\ i7/g debian.master/etc/getabis

sed -i s/\=\ generic\ server\ virtual/\=\ generic\ server\ virtual\ i7/g debian.master/rules.d/amd64.mk

cp debian.master/control.d/vars.generic debian.master/control.d/vars.i7

sed -i s/\"Generic\"/\"core\ i7\"/g debian.master/control.d/vars.i7

Modify makefile

vi Makefile

I changed only the main makefile HOSTCC and HOSTCXX as follows

HOSTCC       = gcc -march=corei7 -mtune=corei7

HOSTCXX      = g++ -march=corei7 -mtune=corei7

These are other makefiles to have a look at

vi arch/x86/Makefile

vi arch/x86/Makefile_32.cpu

Build

Clean before doing a build

#clean and build

fakeroot debian/rules clean

Just build and Ubuntu will take care of creating concurrent builds based on your processor count

skipabi=true skipmodule=true fakeroot debian/rules binary-indep

time skipabi=true skipmodule=true fakeroot debian/rules binary-i7

Install

The built deb packages are in the parent directory, so change to previous directory

cd ..

The following installs the newly created flavour

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.0.0-12_3.0.0-12.20_all.deb linux-headers-3.0.0-12-i7_3.0.0-12.20_amd64.deb linux-image-3.0.0-12-i7_3.0.0-12.20_amd64.deb

Reboot and enjoy

Here is screenshot showing i7 kernel in gnome-system-monitor

P.S: If you are lazy or scared to build your own custom kernel, wait till tonight. I am starting to office ... and will upload tonight

Here is the i7 optimized builds which I am using and can be used on any 64bit i3, i5 or i7

Kernel Image :  http://www.mediafire.com/file/tb9fo7omoaa8pxc/linux-image-3.0.0-12-i7_3.0.0-12.20_amd64.deb
Kernel Headers : http://www.mediafire.com/file/47s4dkbz5bf8ij3/linux-headers-3.0.0-12-i7_3.0.0-12.20_amd64.deb
Kernel Headers All : http://www.mediafire.com/file/ktw2d9d2qoyh3yz/linux-headers-3.0.0-12_3.0.0-12.20_all.deb
Oneiric Kernel Build Script : http://www.mediafire.com/file/pn3xmszxl9sy9cr/OneiricKernelCompilation.sh

SHA256SUMS-Oneiric.txt : http://www.mediafire.com/file/wvun5qrjim04j7q/SHA256SUMS-Oneric.txt


SHA256SUMS



ba00c0c3ee5d0875ea961f2ff4c7e54c460eb298b22c58e85d570f112ca323dd  linux-headers-3.0.0-12_3.0.0-12.20_all.deb
dcf30712689180ea6bb4d7d361c6660063c3a446531313989ee968deb9aa4927  linux-headers-3.0.0-12-i7_3.0.0-12.20_amd64.deb
f587a9d5ea51c5ec39b633b2ed64e63b06b9bc34dc25137729d6e969ce424766  linux-image-3.0.0-12-i7_3.0.0-12.20_amd64.deb
ed287ac072c0ee94cc79fd274cf81659259d06b244b70664ef95acc3ea507ec9  OneiricKernelCompilation.sh