Post #2148567
2026-05-01 14:29 UTC
@gmc Compiling your own kernel is a surprise. Was this to get newer driver support, or did other non-Gentoo Linux pull a "compile kernel at install time?"
Replies (1)
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@gmc@friends.chasmcity.net 2026-05-01 16:53
@gourd Well, this was before kernel modules, and certain drivers would crash your kernel if you didn't have the corresponding driver so they would not be compiled into the default kernel that came with a distro. Could be graphics, sound, whatever. As such, the default kernel was fairly minimal typically and you had to recompile to enable drivers for your specific machine. Took hours to compile, and more often than not you would have configured some combination of settings that would crash the compilation halfway and you could start all over.