KERNEL-PACKAGE(5)					      Debian GNU/Linux manual						 KERNEL-PACKAGE(5)

NAME

       kernel-package - system for creating kernel related packages

DESCRIPTION

       The  kernel-package  package  grew  out of desire to automate the routine steps required to compile and install a custom kernel. If you are
       looking for instructions on how to use kernel-package, please have a look at the manual make-kpkg(1).  Configuring instructions are  to	be
       found in kernel-pkg.conf(5).

Advantages of using kernel-package
	      i) Convenience.
		     I	used  to  compile  kernels manually, and it involved a series of steps to be taken in order; kernel-package was written to
		     take all the required steps (it has grown beyond that now, but essentially, that is what it does). This is especially  impor-
		     tant to novices: make-kpkg takes all the steps required to compile a kernel, and installation of kernels is a snap.

	      ii) Multiple images support
		     It allows you to keep multiple version of kernel images on your machine with no fuss.

	      iii) Multiple Flavors of the same kernel version
		     It has a facility for you to keep multiple flavors of the same kernel version on your machine (you could have a stable 2.0.36
		     version, and a 2.0.36 version patched with the latest drivers, and not worry about contaminating  the  modules  in  /lib/mod-
		     ules).

	      iv) Built in defaults
		     It  knows	that some architectures do not have vmlinuz (using vmlinux instead), and other use zImage rather than bzImage, and
		     calls the appropriate target, and takes care of moving the correct file into place.

	      v) Module hooks
		     Several other kernel module packages are hooked into kernel-package, so one can seamlessly compile, say,  pcmcia  modules	at
		     the same time as one compiles a kernel, and be assured that the modules so compiled are compatible.

	      vi) dpkg support
		     It  enables  you  to  use	the package management system to keep track of the kernels created. Using make-kpkg creates a .deb
		     file, and dpkg can track it for you. This facilitates the task of other packages that depend on the kernel packages.

	      vii) Configuration tracking
		     It keeps track of the configuration file for each kernel image in /boot, which is part of the image package, and hence is the
		     kernel image and the configuration file are always together.

	      viii) Multiple config files
		     It allows you to specify a directory with config files, with separate config files for each sub-architecture (even allows for
		     different config files for i386, i486, etc). It is really neat for people who need to compile kernels for a  variety  of  sub
		     architectures.

	      ix) Auxiliary kernel .deb packages
		     It allows to create a package with the headers, or the sources, also as a deb file, and enables the package management system
		     to keep track of those (and there are packages that depend on the package management system being aware of these packages).

	      x) Maintainer script services
		     Since the kernel image package is a full fledged Debian package, it comes with maintainer scripts, which allow  the  user	to
		     add hook scripts to run when the package status changes.

	      xi) Sub architecture support
		     There  is	support  for  the  multitudinous sub architectures that have blossomed under the umbrella of the m68k and power-PC
		     architectures.

	      xii) Portable kernel images
		     Allows one to compile a kernel for another computer, for example using a fast machine to compile the kernel for  installation
		     on  a  slower machine. This is really nice since the modules are all included in the .deb; and one does not have to deal with
		     modules manually.

	      xiii) runtime hooks
		     The preinst, postinst, prerm and the postrm scripts allow the local admin on the installation machine to add  a  script  into
		     runtime  hooks;  this  can  allow, amongst other things, grub users to add and remove kernel image stanzas from the grub menu
		     (example scripts to do this are in the package). There are directories under /etc/kernel where related packages may drop  off
		     scripts  that  will be run by the maintainer scripts of the packages created by kernel package. Before running these scripts,
		     the environment variable KERNEL_PACKAGE_VERSION shall be set to the version of the kernel-package that created the package.

	      xiv) Append descriptive bits to the kernel version
		     One can append to the kernel version on the command line, or by setting an environment variable. So if your kernel is  called
		     kernel-image-2.4.1John.Home;  it  is unlikely to be overridden by the official 2.4.1 kernel, since they are not the same ver-
		     sion.

Disadvantages of using make-kpkg
       i) Automation.
	      This is a cookie cutter approach to compiling kernels, and there are people who like being close to the bare metal.

       ii) Non traditional
	      This is not how it is done in the non-Debian world. This flouts tradition. (It has been pointed  out,  though,  that  this  is  fast
	      becoming Debian tradition).

       iii) Needs superuser
	      It  forces  you  to use fakeroot or sudo or super or be root to create a kernel image .deb file (this is not as bad as it used to be
	      before fakeroot).

FILES

       /etc/kernel-pkg.conf

       /etc/kernel-img.conf

SEE ALSO

       make(1), make-kpkg(1), The GNU Make manual

BUGS

       There are no bugs.  Any resemblance thereof is delirium. Really.

AUTHOR

       This manual page was written by Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system.

Debian								   May	25 1999 						 KERNEL-PACKAGE(5)