Today, I built the mainline kernel v2.6.33.4 on Lucid. Most instruments were taken from here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/GitKernelBuild:

1. Unpack:

2. Config:

The last line is optional. The wiki said:

Note that Ubuntu kernels build with debugging information on, which makes the resulting kernel modules (*.ko files) much larger than they would otherwise be (linux-image*.deb will be 200-300 MB instead of 20-30 MB). To turn this off, go into “Kernel hacking”; then, under “Kernel debugging”, turn off “Compile the kernel with debug info”.

It’s outdated maybe. When building kernel 2.6.24.x in Hardy, It WAS 200-300MB. But in Lucid, it is always 20-30MB. When you turn off the option, the build process took 80min instead of 100min, and 800MB instead of 5G storage. The option is configured by “CONFIG_DEBUG_KERNEL” in .config file.

3. Build:

After all, two files were generated. It contains 2772 modules. You may find the usage of “–append-to-version” and “–revision” options here:
*) linux-headers-2.6.33.4-custom_2.6.33.4-1_i386.deb
*) linux-image-2.6.33.4-custom_2.6.33.4-1_i386.deb

4. Install:

The last 2 lines are NOT mentioned in the wiki. They are used to generate the initrd image in Lucid. The build also do not generate abi and vmcoreinfo files in /boot.

5. Reference:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9120942

It seems a little easier when building Lucid kernel from ubuntu source.

1. Tools:

2. Sources:

3. Customize:

cd into “linux-2.6.32” root.

I selected “core2” as my custom name.

Then patch some files:

*) debian.master/etc/getabis:
From: getall i386 generic generic-pae 386
To: getall i386 generic generic-pae 386 core2

*) debian.master/rules.d/i386.mk:
From: flavours = generic generic-pae 386
To: flavours = generic generic-pae 386 core2

Now, edit the config file. You will have to go through all the flavors for this script to work properly:

You should not make changes to any of the configurations until you see the core2 configuration:

I disabled the “Kernel hacking ==> Kernel debugging” feature to accelerate build process. If you got the error like:

Simply add the x permission to all scripts, it’s a known bug:

4. Build:

If you got the error like:

Add option “skipmodule=true” to the last command line. If you got:

Add option “no_dumpfile=true” to the last command line. And there will be no vmcoreinfo-2.6.32-22-core2 file.

5. Done:

I found that Lucid has 2675 driver modules while Hardy has only 1921. It seems the kernel was greatly enhanced between the two releases.

My T60 has a Duo Core 1.83G CPU. It took about 90 minutes to finish. The kernel also consumed about 4G storage T.T. After all, two *.deb files were generated:
*) linux-headers-2.6.32-22-core2_2.6.32-22.33_i386.deb
*) linux-image-2.6.32-22-core2_2.6.32-22.33_i386.deb

6. Others:

Since the build process used so much storage, I was monitor my available disk space from time to time using “df” utility. I found the “free space” is about 500M larger than “available space”. What happened? Then I found the answer here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=328786&page=3
. We can use “tune2fs” utility to set the size of reserved space:

Set the percentage of the filesystem which may only be allocated by privileged processes. Reserving some number of filesystem blocks for use by privileged processes is done to avoid filesystem fragmentation, and to allow system daemons, such as syslogd(8), to continue to function correctly after non-privileged processes are prevented from writing to the filesystem. Normally, the default percentage of reserved blocks is 5%.

7. Reference:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Kernel/Compile
http://blog.avirtualhome.com/2010/05/05/how-to-compile-a-ubuntu-lucid-kernel/

Some additional words:

Today, I finally reverted to use pidgin instead of emphathy.
There’s a plugin call “musictracker” which displays the “now playing” info.

lucid_pidgin_now_playing

It seems that nickname cannot be changed when using MSN protocol.
I did set the friendly name, but Others cannot see.
And the personal message is called status in pidgin, so set it there.

For QQ protocol, using pidgin may cause activation problem.
An error shows to tell you to activate your account via jihuo.qq.com.
Open the account settings, uncheck the “Connect by TCP” may solve the issue.

I google a lot to find a plugin for rhythmbox to show lyrics automatically.
Though rhythmbox does have a lyrics plugin, it cannot find most Chinese lyrics.
Then I find LrcShow-X. It works well.

lucid_rhythmbox_lyrics

Sorry for leaving this blog outdated for so long.
Since go out of GFW is not a so easy task.

There’s something to mention about installation.

0. installation

I installed lucid from harddisk.
There’s an lock issue when modifying the partition table.
We should umount the iso first:

1. grub

The original grub installation will not probe Windows OSes.
See here. So you must do it manually.

2. qterm

The iBus IME issue seems to be fixed in this version.
But the “Home” and “End” key do not work correctly. This is a resolved bug.
So, change the key type to “linux” may workaround.

3. emphathy

Pidgin is replaced with emphathy.
Emphathy is not as powerful as pidgin.
But it integrates better with Gnome’s notification area.

4. totem/rhythmbox

These are video/audio players.
Please install essential codecs.
Otherwise, almost nothing could be played and seek function is not available.

Now, almost all media formats can be played.
Also, media plugins in firefox works.

5. fglrx

This is the graphics driver for ATI cards.
You may experience better performance and effects.
But after I installed it, I could not play Warcraft III using wine.
So I reverted to the original default graphics driver, and it works.
ubuntu1004_warcraft3
To play other 3D games, make sure your have turned off compiz firstly.

6. gimp

The gimp is not installed by defaut, so…

7. acpid

I’m running on a Thinkpad T60 machine.
The brightness function key works correctly, but the volume button does not.
Then I found that the hotkey mask should be enabled:
http://swiss.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1328016
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/thinkpad-acpi
After all, I add following line in the startup script, /etc/rc.local:

Then the volume button works.
The play/pause/stop/prev/next buttons also work in rhythmbox.

8. fstab

I want to mount all windows partitions when boot.
So /etc/fstab file should be edited automatically using pysdm:

For ntfs partitions, default option is OK.
For fat32 partitins, add the “utf8=1” string.
Or you may want to edit fstab manually.
You can copy from /etc/mtab file and do some little modification.
For me, the added modified lines are:

9. restricted packages

This will install some other useful packages.
The open-source java packages are included but not necessary.
Unmark them and install sun’s packages instead.

10. modify reserved space

11. ctrl+alt+backspace

See here:
Since Ubuntu 9.04, the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace key combination to force a restart of X is now disabled by default, to eliminate the problem of accidentally triggering the key combination. In addition, the Ctrl-Alt-Backspace option is now configured as an X keymap (XKB) option, replacing the X server “DontZap” option and allowing per-user configuration of this setting.
As a result, enabling or disabling the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace shortcut can now be done easily from the desktop.
– Enabling Ctrl-Alt-Backspace for Ubuntu 10.04
** Select “System” -> “Preferences” -> “Keyboard”.
** Select the “Layouts” tab and click on the “Layout Options” button.
** Select “Key sequence to kill the X server” and enable “Control + Alt + Backspace”.
– Enabling Ctrl-Alt-Backspace for Kubuntu 10.04
** Click on the Application launcher and select “System Settings”.
** Click on “Regional & Language”.
** Select “Keyboard Layout”.
** Click on “Enable keyboard layouts” (in the Layout tab).
** Select the “Advanced” tab. Then select “Key sequence to kill the X server” and enable “Control + Alt + Backspace”.