Book Image

Linux Utilities Cookbook

By : James Kent Lewis
Book Image

Linux Utilities Cookbook

By: James Kent Lewis

Overview of this book

<p>Linux is a stable, reliable and extremely powerful operating system. It has been around for many years, however, most people still don't know what it can do and the ways it is superior to other operating systems. Many people want to get started with Linux for greater control and security, but getting started can be time consuming and complicated. <br /><br />A practical, hands-on guide that provides you with a number of clear step-by-step examples to help you solve many of the questions that crop up when using an operating system you may not be familiar with.</p> <p>Presenting solutions to the most common Linux problems in a clear and concise way, this helpful guide starts with spicing up the terminal sessions by command retrieval and line editing, and shell prompt variables. We will then get to know the different desktops (GUIs) available for Linux systems and which is the best fit for you. We will then explore the world of managing files and directories, connectivity, and what to do when it goes wrong. We will also learn a range of skills, from creating and managing user accounts to securing your system, managing and limiting processes, and letting information flow from one process to another using pipes. Later, we will master disk management, working with scripts and automating tasks quickly, and finally, understand the need for a custom kernel and tips on how to build one.</p> <p><br />Based on the author's extensive experience, there is a section on best practices that every Linux user should be familiar with.</p>
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Linux Utilities Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Building a kernel from kernel.org


For this example, we will be using kernel files from the http://kernel.org website.

Getting ready

You should be able to perform all but the last step without any possible harm to your system. The make install command will modify your GRUB file(s), and so at a minimum, I would back those up. To be very safe, and since we already know I am paranoid, if you are going to install the new kernel, I would run all of these steps on a test machine.

This example assumes your computer has been installed as a full development system. You will need up-to-date versions of GCC, make, the QT development package, and others. If you have a current distribution elected to install the Software Development package (or equivalent), you are probably good to go. I suggest having at least 10 GB of file space available on the partition you plan to do the builds in; more if you are going to be creating a lot of kernel trees (the files in kernel 3.9.1 are using 6.5 GB).

The vmlinuz, initramfs...