Running Linux, Third Edition

Chapter 7. Upgrading Software and the Kernel

In this chapter, we’ll show you how to upgrade software on your system, including rebuilding and installing a new operating system kernel. Although most Linux distributions provide some automated means to install, remove, and upgrade specific software packages on your system, it is often necessary to install software by hand. The kernel is the operating system itself. It is a set of routines and data that is loaded by the system at boot time and controls everything on the system: software access to hardware devices, scheduling of user processes, memory management, and more. Building your own kernel is often beneficial, as you can select which features you want included in the operating system.

Installing and upgrading free software is usually more complicated than installing commercial products. Even when you have precompiled binaries available, you may have to uncompress them and unpack them from an archive file. You may also have to create symbolic links or set environment variables so that the binaries know where to look for the resources they use. In other cases, you’ll need to compile the software yourself from sources.

Another common Linux activity is building the kernel. This is an important task for several reasons. First of all, you may find yourself in a position where you need to upgrade your current kernel to a newer version, to pick up new features or hardware support. Secondly building the kernel yourself allows you to select ...