
This directory conatins a useful example for building a kernel package.
The configuration files found here will configure the kernel to be
built with a very small size.

The config file 'config-tiny' is the default for use with the
kernel-tiny.src2pkg script. It will build a kernel small enough
to fit on a floppy disk. Everyone seems to think that a 2.6 kernel
won't fit on a floppy, so I had to prove them wrong. I'll leave
it as an exercise for the reader (for now) to figure out how to
create a proper boot-floppy using such a kernel. I will provide
a couple of tips, though. The kernel size of about ~1250KB may not
leave enough room to put an adequate initrd on the same disk.
So, the initrd would have to be placed on a separate floppy.
But there is enough room for installing a bootloader like
lilo on the floppy -of course you need that to be able to boot 
the kernel anyway. And you could write a lilo boot-entry which
would boot your machine from a floppy, in case of emergency.

The configuration includes support for a couple of filesystems:
ext2 and ext3 as well as support for initramfs. Otherwise it is
quite limited. But there may be room to add a couple of other
features, if needed, and some features could still be disabled to
allow even more free room. You'd have to run 'make menuconfig'
and produce a new config file. It would be easy enough to create
a boot-entry in your hard-disk /boot directory/partition in
order to test the kernel out before creating the floppy. If nothing
else, the config file serves to show just how much cruft can
be left out and still have a functional kernel.

An even better alternative would be to produce a working boot-floppy
with grub installed as this would provide more flexibility. But
you'd need to produce a very small brub stage2 in order for the
kernel, stage2 and (optional) menu.lst to fit on one floppy.

The config file named kernel-small is a much more workable
configuration which will probably not fit on a floppy, but
it makes a good starting point from which to create your own
compact kernel config file for normal custom use.

Both config files are setup for the 2.6.23.6 kernel. You'll probably
be using some other version, so you'll need to start your
own configuration using this one and then run 'make oldconfig'
in the sources in order to select/deselect features for a 
later or earlier version. Then copy the resulting hidden '.config'
file to this directory and name it config-tiny or
other suitable name.

See the general directions in the directory above this one 
for how to use src2pkg to build a kernel package.

Have fun!
Gilbert Ashley <amigo@ibiblio.org>
