FreeBSD6 Unleashed

Chapter 18. Kernel Configuration

IN THIS CHAPTER

• The Role of the Kernel

• Kernel Modules

• Why Configure a Custom Kernel?

• The Kernel Configuration Files

• Creating a Custom Kernel Configuration File

• Compiling and Installing the Custom Kernel

• Adding Device Nodes to the /dev Directory

• Recovering when Something Goes Wrong

This chapter covers a topic that’s likely to be one of the most intimidating to a newcomer to UNIX: how to configure and rebuild your kernel, the innermost core of the operating system, which interacts at the most basic level with devices and coordinates processes. This is a task that simply does not happen in the desktop PC world, where the kernel is the carefully guarded domain of the software company. However, tweaking the kernel is a necessary ...