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Prerequisites

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Preface

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Make Config Rules

menuconfig

TBD.

tinyconfig

TBD.

With current Linux (since 3.17-rc1 and newer, make tinyconfig will produce a minimal kernel. You can then turn on the minimal set of options you need.

defconfig

defconfig is an abbreviation for 'default configuration', which refers to a series of configurations for different architectures, e.g. x86_64_defconfig :

make x86_64_defconfig

defconfig is really suitable for simulation : it is well-tested for QEMU, and is much smaller than the configuration of distributions. However, real hardwares and the distributions will likely not work properly with defconfig , because defconfig lacks driver support for some essential piece of hardware, and it lacks features that several packages of the distribution might rely on.

Configuration of Distributions

TBD.

You can get the kernel configuration of your native distribution as follows :

cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config
make menuconfig
make -j4

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KConfig

TBD.

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Kernel Configurations Overview

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References

StackExchange - Compiling the kernel with default configurations (opens new window)

StackExchange - What exactly does Linux kernel's make defconfig do ? (opens new window)

LWN.net - Kernel configuration for distributions (opens new window)

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