FreeBSD6 Unleashed

Compiling and Installing the Custom Kernel

After your config file is ready to go, building the kernel is a fairly simple process. In theory, the build requires at most three commands:

# cd /usr/src
# make buildkernel KERNCONF=CUSTOM
# make installkernel KERNCONF=CUSTOM

The KERNCONF argument specifies the kernel config file to use; if you omit it, the GENERIC config file will be assumed. The first make command parses the config file, sets up the build directory, builds the dependencies, and then builds the kernel itself. The second command installs it into /boot, moving the current kernel directory to /boot/kernel.old. (Prior to FreeBSD 5.0, these kernels were installed into /, the root.) You must then reboot (by typing shutdown -r now) to use ...