Compiling an optimized kernel for VirtualBox or real machines
in [General Linux]
|
From: Balwinder S Dheeman on 13 Dec 2009 03:06 Hello, After searching some of the news groups, google groups and, or relevant mailing lists I'm asking it here in a hope that someone might also be thinking and, or working on to compile an optimized Linux kernel based on a given inventory of all the devices installed on a machine and, or a set of machines in a small, workgroup and, or home network. On most of the Linux machines we have procfs (/proc), sysfs (/sys), usbfs (/proc/bus/usb), lspci and even a hal daemon these days. Hence, we can easily or heuristically collect the lists of almost all modern devices so that we may map these lists to kernel config variables. I think, on merging the above said lists and a master or minimalistic configuration we can create a optimal Linux kernel configuration. Which can help us build an efficient, optimal and, or small kernel quickly. Now, before I start working on this I would like know if someone else has also did and, or is doing this kind of project or is there someone who would like to share his/her ideas, forces and, or effort on this project? Thanks, -- Balwinder S "bdheeman" Dheeman Registered Linux User: #229709 Anu'z Linux(a)HOME (Unix Shoppe) Machines: #168573, 170593, 259192 Chandigarh, UT, 160062, India Plan9, T2, Arch/Debian/FreeBSD/XP Home: http://werc.homelinux.net/ Visit: http://counter.li.org/
From: Mark Hobley on 13 Dec 2009 09:08 Balwinder S Dheeman <bsd.SANSPAM(a)cto.homelinux.net> wrote: > Now, before I start working on this I would like know if someone else > has also did and, or is doing this kind of project or is there someone > who would like to share his/her ideas, forces and, or effort on this > project? I am working on a similar project to produce a small, optimized scalable kernel. Your help on this would be greatly received. http://markhobley.yi.org/kernel486/ Regards, Mark. -- Mark Hobley Linux User: #370818 http://markhobley.yi.org/
From: Balwinder S Dheeman on 13 Dec 2009 15:11 On 12/13/2009 07:38 PM, Mark Hobley wrote: > Balwinder S Dheeman <bsd.SANSPAM(a)cto.homelinux.net> wrote: > >> Now, before I start working on this I would like know if someone else >> has also did and, or is doing this kind of project or is there someone >> who would like to share his/her ideas, forces and, or effort on this >> project? > > I am working on a similar project to produce a small, optimized scalable > kernel. Your help on this would be greatly received. > > http://markhobley.yi.org/kernel486/ > > Regards, Hi Mark, That's really a hilarious news, I shall try testing your kernel soon. Though, I'm not kernel programmer, but except for the Assembly I can hack any C, shell, Qt, GTK, Kconfig and, or Makefile code. I shall feel obliged in helping you on that project also. BTW, I was taking and, or asking for pragmatically creating an optimal configuration only for vanilla Linux kernels, so that we may compile only a few or needful modules and build an efficient and small kernel quickly. Warm Regards, -- Balwinder S "bdheeman" Dheeman Registered Linux User: #229709 Anu'z Linux(a)HOME (Unix Shoppe) Machines: #168573, 170593, 259192 Chandigarh, UT, 160062, India Plan9, T2, Arch/Debian/FreeBSD/XP Home: http://werc.homelinux.net/ Visit: http://counter.li.org/
From: Grant on 13 Dec 2009 16:59 On Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:41:05 +0530, Balwinder S Dheeman <bsd.SANSPAM(a)cto.homelinux.net> wrote: >On 12/13/2009 07:38 PM, Mark Hobley wrote: >> Balwinder S Dheeman <bsd.SANSPAM(a)cto.homelinux.net> wrote: >> >>> Now, before I start working on this I would like know if someone else >>> has also did and, or is doing this kind of project or is there someone >>> who would like to share his/her ideas, forces and, or effort on this >>> project? >> >> I am working on a similar project to produce a small, optimized scalable >> kernel. Your help on this would be greatly received. >> >> http://markhobley.yi.org/kernel486/ >> >> Regards, > >Hi Mark, > >That's really a hilarious news, I shall try testing your kernel soon. > >Though, I'm not kernel programmer, but except for the Assembly I can >hack any C, shell, Qt, GTK, Kconfig and, or Makefile code. I shall feel >obliged in helping you on that project also. > >BTW, I was taking and, or asking for pragmatically creating an optimal >configuration only for vanilla Linux kernels, so that we may compile >only a few or needful modules and build an efficient and small kernel >quickly. I've been compiling custom kernels for over a decade, and publish the dmesg and .config on: http://bugsplatter.id.au/kernel/boxen/ -- only the most recent files are kept. Couple years ago there were a few more machines here but I got rid of older machines and no longer regularly do 2.4 series kernels. These days I no longer trim to the minimal as memory and CPU speeds increased. Also, if you perform some benchmarks you'll discover there's not much performance to be gained. Unless you're working on embedded systems. Grant. -- http://bugsplatter.id.au
From: Mark Hobley on 13 Dec 2009 17:08
Balwinder S Dheeman <bsd.SANSPAM(a)cto.homelinux.net> wrote: > Hi Mark, > > That's really a hilarious news, I shall try testing your kernel soon. I am having problems with the build scripts though, because my shell is bourne compatible, but autotools generates build scripts that do not work on my ash shell. This has caused a serious delaying to the project, because I am still reengineering autotools to produce bourne compatible build scripts. > Though, I'm not kernel programmer, but except for the Assembly I can > hack any C, shell, Qt, GTK, Kconfig and, or Makefile code. I shall feel > obliged in helping you on that project also. I have the opposite problem. I am an assembler language programmer, so I can do the assembly language stuff, but I am have difficulties with the C and Makefile code. > BTW, I was taking and, or asking for pragmatically creating an optimal > configuration only for vanilla Linux kernels, so that we may compile > only a few or needful modules and build an efficient and small kernel > quickly. Yeah. I am planning that as part of my project. I plan to build the core to its smallest size and use loadable modules to expand the functionality as required. I have documentation on the build options for this. Regards, Mark. -- Mark Hobley Linux User: #370818 http://markhobley.yi.org/ |