Upgrade A Debian Kernal

Get New Kernel Source, Unpack It, Make Symlink

These really should be upgraded again for a new kernel. I always use aptitude instead of apt-get.

apt-get install kernel-source-2.4.27
cd /usr/src
bunzip -c kernel-source-2.4.27.tar.bz2 | tar -xvf -
rm linux
ln -s kernel-source-2.4.27 linux

Copy Old Kernel Config, Update It

The config is the worst part of any kernel rebuild. Copying your old config is key. Please don't forget this step.

cd linux
cp ../kernel-source-2.4.23/.config .
make oldconfig
(answer No to everything)

Compile Kernel, Build Debian Package, Install

Make the kernel, then move build a new initrd one.

make-kpkg clean
make-kpkg --initrd kernel_image

Now the deb is ready and we can install it.

cd ..
dpkg -i kernel-image-VERSION_i386.deb

That populates everything needed in the /boot directory and moves the necessary symlink to make the current kernel image the backup (old) kernel image. It also updates my menu.list adding the new kernel to the menu options. Cross Fingers, Reboot

After I double checked that everything looked right in the / and /boot directories and that /boot/grub/menu.lst was reasonable, I did asked for a reboot and crossed my fingers.

reboot

Then I opend another window and started running a command to log in.

sh example.org

When I can log in again I know everything is ok. I have disabled pings on my boxout of fear of being DOS'd.