Building Your Own Linux Kernel

You like Linux.

Perhaps you're running it on one of your personal machines, or on a server in the cloud. And you're just a little curious, if you admit it to yourself, what the Linux kernel is and how to build your own.

Or maybe you've got an embedded board, like a BeagleBone or a Raspberry Pi, and you'd like to run the latest and greatest kernel, with all the latest and greatest features, fresh from Mr. Linus Torvalds himself.

Or maybe you're a C programmer who would like to experiment with Linux kernel software development, but just need a little help getting started.

Well, this workshop is for you. We'll cover:

• How to download a copy of the kernel source code via git
• How to use the Kbuild system to configure your kernel
• How to compile the kernel and kernel modules
• How to install (and hopefully, boot!) your compiled kernel

We'll start with an x86 kernel. If we have time, we'll talk about how to install an ARM toolchain and build an ARM kernel.

Prerequisites:

• Some basic Linux/Unix expertise. At least some experience with using a shell command line is helpful!

• If you'd like to follow along on your own machine, one of the Linux distributions (e.g., Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat Fedora) should already be installed. It should preferably be in a "throwaway" virtual machine, with Parallels, Virtualbox, or KVM, so you don't risk anything important.

Instructor: Paul Walmsley

Workshop cost: FREE for Solid State Depot members, or $5-$20 (sliding scale) for non-members.