-----Original Message----- From: Jonathan Hutchins

On Monday 06 December 2004 09:55 am, Brian Densmore wrote:

...

Although the size [of later kernels] is by default much much larger, this can be changed to some degree by compiling a

custom kernel and

...

leaving out all of the code for hardware and features you

do not use.

I haven't seen a monolithic kernel in all of the time I've run Linux, starting pretty early in the RedHat release era (2.1). Once the kernel went modular, all of the HOWTO's that started with "first recompile your kernel" were obsolete, and so were considerations of slimming down by leaving out hardware support.

I never said monolithic, but if you go into your RH 2.1 default kernel compile you will see options that are compiled into the kernel (such as SCSI support and one SCSI driver are compiled directly into the kernel, not as modules). While some of the better distros do a good job of modularizing the kernel, there are still some pieces that are compiled in and some that must be compiled in. If you want sound, sound support must be compiled in then the sound drivers can be in modules. If you want to do I2C then support for I2C must be compiled in, and then drivers for I2C devices can be compiled as modules. etc. All I'm saying is if you don't need sound, scsi, I2C, webcams, shortwave, IPv6, etc support turn it off in the kernel. You will then remove the stub code and frequently a default built in module from your kernel. Generally if there is an option for hardware that you don't know what it is you don't need it in the kernel so remove it and make your kernel a lean mean computin' machine. Of course SCSI support probably not one of them if you have a CD, but the default SCSI device for the ACME Roadrunner X9000 SCSI controller could be deselected, which might save 10KB of space. So I say the "first recompile your kernel" is still a good recommendation.

Brian D.

<disclaimer: I'm not responsible should you remove support for some vital function in the kernel, like support for ext2 filesystems, and trash your machine.>