Project:Distribution Kernel

Has Name::Distribution Kernel
Description	Has Description::Dist-kernel project maintains packages providing for zero-effort kernel install and upgrades
Project email	Has Contact::dist-kernel@gentoo.org
IRC channel	#gentoo-dist-kernel
Lead(s)	SMW::off Michał Górny (mgorny) Self-appointed lead SMW::on No lead election date set
Member(s)	SMW::off Georgy Yakovlev (gyakovlev) ppc64 maintenance, testing Sam James (sam) arm64 maintenance Mikle Kolyada (Zlogene) Minion SMW::on
Subproject(s) (and inherited member(s))	(none)
Parent Project	Gentoo
Project listing

The Distribution Kernel project Article description::aims to maintain sys-kernel/*-kernel packages. These kernel packages have three goals:

Covering kernel maintenance wholly within packages (install via emerge, upgrade as part of @world upgrade), without requiring additional actions from the user or resorting to non-portable hacks.
Providing a default configuration that works for most of diverse systems, for users who are not interested in configuring their own kernel from scratch.
Supporting different bootloaders and /boot layouts (LILO, GRUB, systemd-boot, EFI stub…) with minimal effort, including deploying self-built kernel binary packages over a fleet of heterogeneous systems.

Current packages

The following packages are provided:

Modifying kernel configuration

The modern versions of Distribution Kernels support two mechanisms for changing the kernel configuration: savedconfig and /etc/kernel/config.d directory. Savedconfig replaces the entire default config with an administrator-supplied config file, so it is probably a better choice for those desiring to build an entirely custom kernel. When using /etc/kernel/config.d, configuration files are merged on top of the default configuration file, so it is more convenient for use-cases that change some specific options.

Preparing a modified kernel config

The easiest way to modify the current kernel configuration is to run one the configuration UIs in the kernel build tree. To do that, select a kernel ebuild and run it up to the configure phase. For example:

user $ebuild /var/db/repos/gentoo/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel/gentoo-kernel-5.9.8.ebuild configure

 * linux-5.9.tar.xz BLAKE2B SHA512 size ;-) ...                          [ ok ]
 * genpatches-5.9-8.base.tar.xz BLAKE2B SHA512 size ;-) ...              [ ok ]
 * genpatches-5.9-8.extras.tar.xz BLAKE2B SHA512 size ;-) ...            [ ok ]
 * kernel-x86_64-fedora.config.5.9.2 BLAKE2B SHA512 size ;-) ...         [ ok ]
 * Starting with 5.7.9, Distribution Kernels are switching from Arch
 * Linux configs to Fedora.  Please keep a backup kernel just in case.
>>> Unpacking source...
>>> Unpacking linux-5.9.tar.xz to /tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-5.9.8/work
[...]
make[1]: Leaving directory '/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-5.9.8/work/modprep'
>>> Source configured.

Note the directory used by make. Enter it and run a kernel configuration tool such as nconfig or menuconfig:

user $cd /var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-5.9.8/work/modprep

user $make nconfig

After saving changes, the new config will be written to the .config file (in the modprep directory).

Using savedconfig

To use savedconfig, put the kernel config into an appropriate /etc/portage/savedconfig directory. The filename can either match the package name, or name with version. For example, creating the following file will apply the same configuration anytime a version of the gentoo-kernel package is emerged:

root #

cp /var/tmp/portage/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-5.9.8/work/modprep/.config /etc/portage/savedconfig/sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel

Afterward, enable the savedconfig USE flag on the relevant kernel package, then re-emerge the package:

root #echo sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel savedconfig >> /etc/portage/package.use

root #emerge --ask sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel

Note that the default Gentoo kernel configuration will not used if savedconfig has been enabled. When using an outdated configuration file, unset symbols (a.k.a newly added symbols) will take the upstream kernel's default values rather than Gentoo's default configuration. It is important to note there could be differences between the two.

Using /etc/kernel/config.d

Note
This variant requires kernel 5.9.8-r1 or 5.4.77-r1.

To use the config.d approach, put a config override file into /etc/kernel/config.d directory. Make sure that the file has .config suffix. All files present in that directory will be merged in lexical order, to the default Gentoo config. Example:

FILE /etc/kernel/config.d/50test.config

<pre>
# CONFIG_HZ_300 is not set
CONFIG_HZ_1000=y
CONFIG_HZ=1000
</pre>

Note that the 'is not set' comments unset options.

Using different option files for different kernel versions or variants is not supported at the moment.