From popular demand, I created a video on Gentoo kernel configuration and how I configure my kernel. One thing I forgot to mention in the video is, you can use lspci -k on an existing system to see which kernel drivers are being used.
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Gentoo provides a variety of kernel sources to choose from.
The most popular being gentoo-sources. I personally prefer vanilla-sources which is the Linux kernel without any 3rd party patches.
Kernel source code is located under /usr/src in gentoo.
Kernel configuration is written to a file called .config (ie. /usr/src/linux-5.7.12/.config).
You can copy this config file around to keep your configuration. But to ensure the configuration is up-to-date, make sure to use make oldconfig whenever you are using that config on a newer kernel.
Certain kernel options may not be visible in menuconfig. This is usually because the prerequisites for the option has not been satisfied. So make sure all requirements are met by searching for that option and reading what it is SELECTED_BY.
If you have drivers that require firmware such as wireless drivers or graphics drivers, you have 2 options:
- Compile them as built-in to the kernel. For this, you would need to go under Device Drivers) Generic Driver Options) Firmware loader) Build named firmware blobs into the kernel binary) and change its value to /lib/firmware. You can read more about it here: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Linux_firmware#Kernel
- Compile them as modules, which is what I do.
Under Raid/LVM options is actually the options required for encryption software such as dm-crypt. So if you are thinking of encrypting your data, enable Device Mapper Support under Device Drivers) Multiple devices driver support (RAID and LVM))
X86 Platform Specific Device Drivers are the drivers that enable special keys on laptops and other keyboards like volume keys, brightness keys, etc.
The FUSE kernel option is required if you want to connect android phones to your system via MTP protocol. You can read more here: https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/MTP
Hope you guys enjoy the video!
Music:
Imagine by lukrembo
Michikusa by PeriTune (Licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
#gentoo #gentoo kernel
