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Date:      Tue, 11 Jul 2000 12:50:27 +0200
From:      Brad Knowles <blk@skynet.be>
To:        doc@freebsd.org
Cc:        Marcel Moolenaar <marcel@cup.hp.com>, grog@lemis.com, khera@kciLink.com, Kris Kennaway <kris@FreeBSD.ORG>, "Chad R. Larson" <chad@DCFinc.com>
Subject:   Re: HEADS UP! Always use the 'make buildkernel' target to make yer   kernels
Message-ID:  <v04220801b5908c806abb@[195.238.1.121]>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0007102326160.70151-100000@freefall.freebsd.org>
References:  <Pine.BSF.4.21.0007102326160.70151-100000@freefall.freebsd.org>

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Folks,

	At the recommendation of Kris Kennaway, I am submitting the 
following as a suggested change to what we have today in section 18.4 
of the Handbook.

	However, I am not 100% convinced that this is completely correct 
or that the wording I've chosen is what should be used as the final 
version.  Therefore, I have left people that I believe are interested 
parties as carbon-copy recipients of this e-mail, and they can feed 
their own suggested changes back to you as well.




	The procedure to make a kernel should now be:

		1.  If you have updated your sources, the process of building 
a kernel may depend on which version of certain tools may be 
installed.  Therefore, the only safe way to build a kernel on such a 
machine is to do the following:

			make buildworld
			make buildkernel
			make installkernel
			shutdown (drop into single-user mode)
			make installworld
			mergemaster
			reboot

		These steps require that you have defined "KERNEL=WHATEVER" 
in /etc/make.conf.  If you have not, you will need to add 
"kernel=WHATEVER" to the "make installkernel" command above.  This 
will install the kernel /WHATEVER, and you will need to have 
"kernel=/WHATEVER" in /boot/loader.conf.

		2.  If you have not updated your sources and just want to 
rebuild the kernel with the sources you already have, use the 
standard procedure:

			config WHATEVER
			cd ../../compile/WHATEVER
			make depend
			make
			make install

		However, if you have problems, you should try re-running this 
process with "config -r WHATEVER" to clean out the remnants of the 
old build tree and to eliminate any potential cruft.  Do not report 
problems to the mailing lists with kernels you have built, if you 
have not configured them with "config -r".


	Note that the steps given in #1 above will install a copy of the 
GENERIC kernel.  If you have a customized kernel, you'll need to 
follow those instructions to safely install the GENERIC kernel, and 
then follow the steps in #2 above to install your customized kernel.

	Also note that if you run into problems anywhere along any part 
of either of these processes, ensure that you are not passing the 
"-j4" (or any other "-j#" argument) to make.  If you are, then start 
over from the beginning, this time omitting the "-j4" argument (which 
causes a parallel make).  While using "-j4" usually works, there are 
sometimes problems with it.  Do not report any problems to the 
mailing lists with a "make world", "make buildworld", or a kernel 
build that was done with a "-j4" (or any similar) argument passed to 
make.


	Of course, if you don't understand how to do the commands listed 
and in what directory they should be run, then you should probably 
not be trying to be "Staying Stable with FreeBSD".  You should 
instead monitor the mailing lists for a longer period of time to 
learn how and where to properly apply these commands, before you try 
to execute them yourself.

--
   These are my opinions -- not to be taken as official Skynet policy
======================================================================
Brad Knowles, <blk@skynet.be>                || Belgacom Skynet SA/NV
Systems Architect, Mail/News/FTP/Proxy Admin || Rue Colonel Bourg, 124
Phone/Fax: +32-2-706.13.11/12.49             || B-1140 Brussels
http://www.skynet.be                         || Belgium


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