[CS-FSLUG] Have You Built a Custom Kernel and Why?

[Don Parris]

Thanks Tim,


On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 13:36, Tim Young <Tim.Young at lightsys.org> wrote:

> I have done a number of custom kernels.  I usually recommend against it
> for a number of reasons, unless you really find it will help...
>

That's pretty much the point of my question - what is the compelling
reason?  I wasn't really coming up with a very good excuse to build a
custom kernel.

>
> The default kernel has lots of "modules", each module is the driver for
> certain sets of hardware.  A custom kernel allows you to have hardware that
> is not-by-default supported on your release.
>
> This - along with the security patches, etc. you mentioned - gets more to
the heart of what I am after - that compelling reason.  In Windows, you
typically just install the vendor's driver, rather than having to build a
custom kernel to load that driver.  Even then, I think most drivers can
actually be loaded as loadable modules, as opposed to being part of the
kernel, no?  I would think that, between SELinux, Xinetd, Apparmor,
possibly ACLs, aide, etc., one should generally be in a good position with
respect to security (from a software perspective, anyway).

I think if I tried to explain the advantages of building a custom kernel
to, say, a Windows user, their response would be to the effect of,
"uh-huh.  And your point is?"
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