Install/Compile Linux Kernel 3.0 In Ubuntu

An RC for the Linux Kernel 3.0 was recently released. The change in the version number is mostly to mark the 3rd decade of the Linux Kernel, it doesn't bring any major changes. Still, why not try to setup the new version on your system?

Here is the terminal commands


Downloading kernel

# cd /tmp
# wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/testing/linux-3.0-rc6.tar.bz2

# tar -xvjf linux-3.0-rc6.tar.bz2 -C /usr/src
# cd /usr/src/linux-3.0-rc6

Configure kernel
Before you configure kernel make sure you have development tools
(gcc compilers and related tools) are installed on your system.

This step may save you time, if you want to reuse the old settings.
Whenever you install the kernel, generally you put the config file
in /boot. So, you can use the existing version of config file:

# mv /usr/src/linux-3.0-rc6/.config  /usr/src/linux-3.0-rc6/.config.save
# cp /boot/config-`uname -r`  /usr/src/linux-3.0-rc6/.config

Now you can start kernel configuration by typing any one of the command:

# make menuconfig - Text based color menus, radiolists & dialogs.
This option also useful on remote server if you
wanna compile kernel remotely.
# make xconfig - X windows (Qt) based configuration tool, works best under KDE desktop
# make gconfig - X windows (Gtk) based configuration tool, works best under Gnome
Dekstop.

*** End of the configuration.
*** Execute 'make' to start the build or try 'make help'.


Give a unique name to your new Kernel -
Edit /usr/src/linux-3.0-rc6/Makefile and change EXTRAVERSION

Once you have finished, save and exit. It is now time to compile.
However to speed up the build if you have a dual core processor type,

export CONCURRENCY_LEVEL=3
The general rule is 1 + the number of processor cores.

Compile kernel

# make -j4

Start compiling to kernel modules:

# make modules
# make modules_install

***** Not recommended Goto "Follow this" *****


# make install


It will install three files into /boot directory as well as modification to 
your kernel grub configuration file:


System.map-3.0.0-rc6 
config-3.0.0-rc6
vmlinuz-3.0.0-rc6

***** End *****

***** Follow this *****
cp ./arch/x86/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-rc6
cp System.map /boot/System.map-3.0.0-rc6

Create an initrd image
# cd /boot
# update-initramfs -c -k 3.0.0-rc6

Finally we need to add the initramfs image to the grub.cfg
file located at /boot/grub/grub.cfg

# update-grub

Now just reboot and your new kernel should automatically load.