Genkernel

Genkernel is a tool for building a general-purpose modular Linux kernel for Gentoo Linux. Genkernel compiles the kernel with all available device drivers built as modules, then copies these to a RAM disk that is passed to the kernel at boot time, providing automatic hardware detection. It's designed to allow users with little or no experience configuring a Linux kernel to easily set up a working kernel.

The main reason for the invention of genkernel is the fact that you have to configure and build your own kernel during the installation of Gentoo, this can be a problem for new Linux users. Experienced Linux users generally prefer to configure and build their kernel manually, because genkernel tries to configure the kernel as safe as possible which causes the kernel to grow very large.

Genkernel Modes

*"all" - Build kernel, all modules, and create the initrd.
*"bzImage" - Just build the kernel.
*"kernel" - Build the kernel and the modules.
*"initrd" - Just build the initrd.

Supported Platforms

Genkernel is capable of building kernels for the following platforms:
*alpha
*amd64
*parisc
*parisc64
*ppc
*ppc64
*sparc
*sparc64
*x86

External links

* [http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/genkernel.xml Genkernel documentation]
* [http://gentoo-wiki.com/Genkernel GenKernel on the Gentoo Linux Wiki]