Stage 5 (Kernel Configuration)
Configuring the 2.6 kernel to work on the Compaq DL380
We assume you are still in the directory "/usr/src/linux" type the following command:
You will eventually be presented with an old style DOS menu, select and install "Load Configuration file From and point this to the config file that you saved to the "/usr/src/linux" directory, in configuration terms that is it, close and save changes from "menuconfig".
The next part is the compiling of the kernel itself issue the next set of commands .
Realistically, this kernel is what is known as Monolithic kernel and should require no building of modules or need any modules dependency, but for sake of consistency it is probably wise to stick to the standard kernel building method, deviation may lead you to forget the full initialisation requirement at a later date.
Now the kernel has been compiled using the above method, we now need to copy the image created and send this to the /boot folder, this had you forgotten was mounted at the following location /mnt/gentoo/boot (whats this you say the folder does not exist) well their is a reason for that, since we have chrooted into Gentoo's new file system we have in effect mounted to a virtual root filesystem. Therefore everything that actually resides at the following mount point:
/mnt/gentoo
This now resides at a virtual level in
/ or (named root)
So back to the copying of this file bzImage to the following location.
No you have not gone mad, we are copying and changing the file name from bzImage to vmlinuz_smp and vmlinuz placing them in /boot, hell! you can call them file whatever you like provided you use the same name when recalling the file from lilo config file lilo.conf. You may notice something else, we are not using sudo anymore this is because we have chrooted into this virtual filesystem this has established us as root user, so sudo is not needed.
One rather bad aspect of building kernel, applications and services from source is the requirement for a compiler to be present, (of course Gentoo comes with its compiler pre-installed), with the likes of package management utilities, not including "emerge" the requirement for compilers is diminished.
Gentoo on the other hand likes to install from source and build the component application from the code itself. This ensures the application is as fast and fined tuned as possible, linking of other package dependencies using "/etc/portage/package.use", only when specified or required during runtime. The drawback with this method is that the compiler also needs to be installed on the your server build, if this is on the Internet this can be a bit of a security risk, why because it allows the building of bespoke tools that could compromise that of your system, should some one circumvent your system and break in.
Provided you have followed the instructions given to you, we are now pretty much done, all that remains is to install "lilo" with "emerge" and add the lilo.conf file to the "/etc" directory and additionally run the "lilo" command as user "root" to save a lot of time we have provided this "lilo.conf" file for you to place into your "/etc" directory.
Despite many attempts to do so, it has not been possible yet to provide this installation with "grub", the only one that works thus far is "lilo", we would be interested to here from anyone who has an explanation for this and better still a fix, please email derek at techsys.co.uk if you have an answer. If you have any corrections that would improve the overall installation procedure for Gentoo on the Compaq DL380 Gen 1 I would be happy to amend our documentation with any note worthy improvements.
