Creating A Configuration File - Sun Microsystems Sun Workstation 100U System Manager's Manual

Kernel Building Process
Building Sun Workstation Kernels
3) Edit GAIA to reflect your system, e.g. change the timezone from 8 to 5 (Pacific to Eastern
time), delete devices and options which you don't need from the description, and add dev-
ices which you have which are not in the configuration.
4) Run config:
# /
etc/ contig GAIA
5) Build the new kernel:
#
cd •• /GAIA
#
make depend
#
make
... lots of output ...
6)
Install the new kernel and try it out
#
cp vmunix /newvmunix
#
/etc/halt
>
b newvmunix
-8
7) If the new kernel appears to work, save the old kernel and install the new one in /vmunix.
#
cd /
#
mv vmunix ovmunix
#
mv newvmunix vmunix
#
/etc/reboot
Steps 1 and 2 are usually done only once. When a kernel configuration changes, it usually
suffices to just run config on the modified configuration file, rebuild the source code dependen-
cies, and remake the kernel.
t
1.2. Creating a Configuration File
Configuration files normally reside in the subdirectory
I 'u,1
conI. A configuration file is most
easily constructed by copying an existing configuration file and modifying it. This distribution
contains a GENERIC configuration file which you can edit to suit your particular system
configuration.
The configuration file must have the same name as the directory in which the configured kernel
is to be built. Further, config assumes this directory is located in the parent directory of the
directory in which it is run. For example, the generic kernel has a configuration file
I 'u,1
conll GENERIC and an accompanying directory named
I 'u,1
GENERIC. In general it is
unwise to move your configuration directories out of
I 'U',
as most of the kernel code and the
files created by config use pathnames of the form " ..
1".
If you are running out of space on the
file system where the configuration directories are located, there is a mechanism (for source dis-
tributions only) for sharing relocatable object files between kernels. This is described later.
When building your configuration file, be sure to include the items described in section 3. In
particular, the machine type, cpu type, timezone, system identifier, maximum users, and root
device must be specified. The specification of the hardware present may take a bit of work,
t
In rare cases invisible configuration dependencies may exist, requiring the kernel to be rebuilt
from scratch by removing the kernel building directory and starting again from step 2. This
will
be
discussed later.
2
7 January
1984