Книга: Linux Network Administrator Guide, Second Edition

Kernel Configuration

Most Linux distributions are supplied with boot disks that work for all common types of PC hardware. Generally, the supplied kernel is highly modularized and includes nearly every possible driver. This is a great idea for boot disks, but is probably not what you'd want for long-term use. There isn't much point in having drivers cluttering up your disk that you will never use. Therefore, you will generally roll your own kernel and include only those drivers you actually need or want; that way you save a little disk space and reduce the time it takes to compile a new kernel.

In any case, when running a Linux system, you should be familiar with building a kernel. Think of it as a right of passage, an affirmation of the one thing that makes free software as powerful as it is - you have the source. It isn't a case of, "I have to compile a kernel," rather it's a case of, "I can compile a kernel." The basics of compiling a Linux kernel are explained in Matt Welsh's book, Running Linux (O'Reilly). Therefore, we will discuss only configuration options that affect networking in this section.

One important point that does bear repeating here is the way the kernel version numbering scheme works. Linux kernels are numbered in the following format: 2.2.14. The first digit indicates the major version number. This digit changes when there are large and significant changes to the kernel design. For example, the kernel changed from major 1 to 2 when the kernel obtained support for machines other than Intel machines. The second number is the minor version number. In many respects, this number is the most important number to look at. The Linux development community has adopted a standard at which even minor version numbers indicate production, or stable, kernels and odd minor version numbers indicate development, or unstable, kernels. The stable kernels are what you should use on a machine that is important to you, as they have been more thoroughly tested. The development kernels are what you should use if you are interested in experimenting with the newest features of Linux, but they may have problems that haven't yet been found and fixed. The third number is simply incremented for each release of a minor version.[18]

When running make menuconfig, you are presented with a text-based menu that offers lists of configuration questions, such as whether you want kernel math emulation. One of these queries asks you whether you want TCP/IP networking support. You must answer this with y to get a kernel capable of networking.

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