Here is a quick step by step tutorial howto rebuild a CentOS 6 kernel (it may work with older CentOS). WARNING: never build RPMS as root!!!
I will be using a kernel version 2.6.32-71.29.1.el6 as an example.
* Grab an SRPM from (http://mirror.centos.org/centos/6/updates/SRPMS/kernel-2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.src.rpm)
* Install the rpm (as a regular user, this will install the source RPM into /home/$USER/rpmbuild/ directory):
rpm -ivh kernel-2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.src.rpm
Now there are two ways of doing it:
##### 1. If you want to apply your own patches or modify the kernel in any other way:
- Run the following command to unpack the kernel source and apply required
patches etc:
rpmbuild -bp /home/$USER/rpmbuild/SPECS/kernel.spec - Configure the kernel:
cd /home/$USER/rpmbuild/BUILD/kernel-2.6.32-71.29.1.el6/linux-2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.x86_64/ && make menuconfig - After you have done all necessary changes to the kernel, it’s time to compile
it and build SRPM and RPM:
make -j<number of cores> rpm - Wait - it will take some time depending on what box the kernel is being built on
- Your custom kernel is built and RPM is created in:
/home/$USER/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/kernel-2.6.32-1.x86_64.rpm
2. Use this method if you just want to edit kernel’s config and rebuild
it, for example you want ext4 filesystem support in the kernel:
* Edit the config, for x86_64 the config is in /home/$USER/rpmbuild/SOURCES/config-generic-rhel
* Rebuild the kernel: rpmbuild -ba /home/$USER/rpmbuild/SPECS/kernel.spec
* Wait and enjoy your custom kernel
The new RPM will be placed into /home/$USER/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/kernel-version.x86_64.rpm.