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linuxubuntumakefilekerneldevice-driver

remove uneccesary drivers during linux kernel build

I was wondering if anyone knows a way to prevent building unneeded device drivers when building the 2.6.32 kernel in Ubuntu 10.4 on VB? The reason I ask is we have to do a project for my operating systems class that involves adding some system calls to the kernel and the instructions say that after you add your call you need to rebuild the kernel(which takes like 3 freakin hours) and I know its because Ubuntu doesn't know which device drivers I need on so it builds them all so I'm wondering if there is a way to have it only build the ones I need? and if so how to go about that? or if anyone knows a way of being able to test added system calls without rebuilding the whole kernel(as this is really the issue)?

Thanks in advance

Solution

  • You can manually change kernel configuration with with rather friendly menus. Just type make nconfig (or menuconfig, or xconfig for gui). And remove drivers that you don't need. Here are some links that may help you:

    1. http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/linux_kernel/kernel_configuration/ch05.html
    2. http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=7
    3. http://kernel.xc.net/

    Also, do you have a multicore processor? If so do you use advantages of it like here?

    UPDATE: I've remembered a faster way. You can wrap a new syscall in module, thus avoiding recompilation of the whole kernel. Look here and there.

    You can easily find everything here with the help of Google, though.