Finnixize Linux kernel

Finnix, the LiveCD for system administrators

This document shows the kernel config changes needed to make a Debian testing kernel config work with Finnix. This will not let you take any kernel config, especially a kernel defconfig, and make it work with Finnix.

SquashFS, UnionFS and SKAS patches are needed to enable the respective functionality.

[edit] All Architectures

NB: CONFIG_FAT_DEFAULT_IOCHARSET="iso8859-1"

[edit] Filesystems

Almost always used; compiled into kernel to save space (but initrd will load the mbcache, ext2, isofs, fat, vfat, nls_cp437, and nls_iso8859-1 modules beforehand if they exists).

File systems

<*> Second extended fs support

File systems - CD-ROM/DVD Filesystems

<*> ISO 9660 CDROM file system support

File systems - DOS/FAT/NT Filesystems

<*> VFAT (Windows-95) fs support
(437) Default codepage for FAT
(iso8859-1) Default iocharset for FAT

File systems - Native Language Support

<*>   Codepage 437 (United States, Canada)
<*>   NLS ISO 8859-1  (Latin 1; Western European Languages)

CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y
CONFIG_FS_MBCACHE=y

CONFIG_ISO9660_FS=y

CONFIG_FAT_FS=y
CONFIG_VFAT_FS=y

CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_437=y
CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_1=y

[edit] Squashfs

Always used. Must be compiled into kernel if the initrd is squashfs. Can be a module if the initrd is switched to another built-in filesystem such as cramfs; initrd will load the squashfs module beforehand if it exists.

File systems - Miscellaneous filesystems

<*> SquashFS 2.2 - Squashed file system support
[ ]   Additional options for memory-constrained systems

CONFIG_SQUASHFS=y
# CONFIG_SQUASHFS_EMBEDDED is not set
CONFIG_SQUASHFS_FRAGMENT_CACHE_SIZE=3
# CONFIG_SQUASHFS_VMALLOC is not set

[edit] Unionfs

Always used; compiled into kernel to save space (but initrd will load the unionfs module beforehand if it exists).

File systems - Miscellaneous filesystems

<*> Union fs support

CONFIG_UNION_FS=y

[edit] Floppy

Originally switched from module to built-in to hide an un-hidable module load error on the PPC platform during hwsetup (since resoved), this helps with loading 3rd-party drivers during debug initrd.

Device Drivers - Block devices

<*> Normal floppy disk support

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y

[edit] Loopback

Always used; compiled into kernel to save space (but initrd will load the loop module beforehand if it exists).

Device Drivers - Block devices

<*> Loopback device support

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=y

[edit] Boot Logo

Mostly cosmetic change, but many people don't know that the number of penguin logos at bootup correspond to the number of CPUs in the system.

Device Drivers - Graphics support - Logo configuration

[*] Bootup logo
[*]   Standard black and white Linux logo (NEW)
[*]   Standard 16-color Linux logo (NEW)
[*]   Standard 224-color Linux logo (NEW)

CONFIG_LOGO=y
CONFIG_LOGO_LINUX_MONO=y
CONFIG_LOGO_LINUX_VGA16=y
CONFIG_LOGO_LINUX_CLUT224=y

[edit] Remove Support

Sound and multimedia support are removed to save on module space.

• Device Drivers - Sound - Sound card support
• Device Drivers - Multimedia devices - Digital Video Broadcasting Devices - DVB For Linux
• Device Drivers - Multimedia devices - Video For Linux
• Device Drivers - Multimedia devices - DABUSB driver

[edit] x86 Only

[edit] i586

Debian's 2.6.XX-X-686-smp kernel is safe to be recompiled as 586-smp.

Processor type and features

Processor family (586/K5/5x86/6x86/6x86MX)  --->

# CONFIG_M686 is not set
CONFIG_M586=y

[edit] SKAS

SKAS is an optional patch that makes UML go faster, with no loss of performance if UML is not running.

Processor type and features

[*] /proc/mm support

CONFIG_PROC_MM=y

[edit] PPC32 Only

None.

[edit] PPC64 Only

None.