Reconfigure the kernel
Previously, we used the make
menuconfig
or gconfig
or
xconfig
method to change different
configuration options. But once you have a working configuration, the
only thing that is necessary is to update it with any new options that
have been added to the kernel since the last release. To do this, the
make oldconfig
and make silentoldconfig
options should be
used.
make oldconfig
takes the
current kernel configuration in the .config file, and updates it based on the new
kernel release. To do this, it prints out all configuration questions,
and provides an answer for them if the option is already handled in the
configuration file. If there is a new option, the program stops and asks
the user what the new configuration value should be set to. After
answering the prompt, the program continues on until the whole kernel
configuration is finished.
make silentoldconfig
works
exactly the same way as oldconfig
does, but it does not print anything to the screen, unless it needs to
ask a question about a new configuration option.
Usually, when upgrading between different versions of the stable
releases, no new configuration options are added, as this is supposed to
be a stable
kernel series. If this
happens, there are no new questions that need to be answered for the
kernel configuration, so the program continues successfully without any
need for user intervention. An example of this is moving from the
2.6.17.9 to 2.6.17.11 release:
$cd linux-2.6.17.11
$make silentoldconfig ...
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