Linux Kernel installation

Question

I am learning kernel programming and want to write/test modules in the kernel, do some development, etc. I have a Linux box with the latest Ubuntu on it. My basic question is this:

Should I install the new kernel on this in the same partition and will I be overwriting the existing kernel? Or install a barebones kernel in a new partition to just experiment with it?

Answer 1

The kernel lives in a plain old file in /boot . Typically, it'll be named something like /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.39-2-amd64 . The accompanying modules live in /lib/modules , eg, /lib/modules/2.6.39-2-amd64 .

There is no reason you'd have to overwrite your existing kernel when installing a new one. Just plop a new one in /boot and then run update-grub . You can select which kernel to boot from grub (or, indeed, even boot one that isn't in the menu using the grub CLI).

If you're using the kernel makefiles to install, you can set EXTRAVERSION to make the names unique.

Answer 2

you dont need new partition. but yes don't overwrite the current kernel of course! The kernel is just a couple files on disk, no need for new partition, you can just stick them in /boot with the current ones with a diff name.