archlinux with gentoo kernel

sinfree · 2013-09-19 19:09:32

For 3 years, I used to work with archlinux distribution booting with a gentoo sources generated kernel.
With the transition to systemd, I am wondering if it can cause troubles to have this type of mixture.

Can you tell me if other users do such melting?

karol · 2013-09-19 19:16:46

What's so special about the gentoo kernel?
You can use your own custom kernel, so why not? https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Kernels

sinfree · 2013-09-19 20:05:09

I used gentoo before archlinux and I thought as gentoo builds its packages from source, it can be a better choice for kernel compiling.
I use archlinux mainly for qemu-kvm and X11, delegating other proposes to other virtualized distributions.
Recently, I found that gentoo-source package propose a personalized menuconfig with gentoo specific options, for instance for systemd compatibility. It is an option activating different options in the kernel that are mandatory for systemd.
At the beginning of this experiment, I was leaded by an april's fool joke, saying a group was developing a distribution gathering the best of 5 distributions.
As a christian, I thought this message was intended for me, and I started a prototype with these distributions. Gentoo is reputed for building from sources, which leaded to my choice.

drcouzelis · 2013-09-19 20:20:03

No, I don't use the Gentoo kernel.

Yes, I think it would cause trouble.

But I'm still seriously confused. Gentoo kernels are built from source, and so are the kernels that are in the AUR and any kernel that you make a PKGBUILD for yourself. You can even rebuild the official kernel incredibly easily with different compile time options.

What's the difference?

ewaller · 2013-09-19 21:02:13

It works fine. But -- If you build things from the AUR that are kernel dependent using buildpkg, you need to ensure that the Arch kernel headers are installed and are at the same level as is your Gentoo kernel.

Heck, I've even used an LFS kernel with Arch.

Last edited by ewaller (2013-09-19 21:02:26)

brebs · 2013-09-20 03:37:05

sinfree wrote:

booting with a gentoo sources generated kernel

You mean a binary kernel generated by Gentoo? That's a bizarre thing to do, given how fragile software is.

You should take whatever Gentoo kernel patches you want, and compile a kernel from within Arch.

nomorewindows · 2013-09-20 14:03:38

The kernels all come from the same place. Borrowing .kconfig from a gentoo install with a built AUR/PKGBUILD will probably do the same thing. You run into a problem when your kernel is not consistent with the rest of the dependencies.

sinfree · 2013-09-20 15:12:05

I found in gentoo kernel menuconfig specific menus for gentoo systemd config.
I think that changes the .kconfig with gentoo dependant feature.
I think because of that .kconfig are not interchangeable.

sitquietly · 2013-09-20 16:20:53

sinfree wrote:

For 3 years, I used to work with archlinux distribution booting with a gentoo sources generated kernel.
With the transition to systemd, I am wondering if it can cause troubles to have this type of mixture.
Can you tell me if other users do such melting?

I only run the Gentoo kernel on my Arch-based systemd system, don't even bother to install an Archlinux binary kernel. It has worked great for the past year.

There is nothing gentoo-specific in the gentoo-sources package. The stable Gentoo kernel sources (3.10.7) includes bfq as an option. BTW, the Gentoo sources are close to vanilla linux. It just seems to be well-maintained and tested patch set for getting a good kernel.

Of course I build it from source and put all necessary hardware drivers and filesystems in the kernel
i.e.
make menuconfig # enable all necessary hardware and filesystems for my system, modules for non-critical stuff
make
make modules_install
cp arch/x86_64/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz-3.10.7-gentoo

With this initrd free kernel my boot time is 2.0 sec kernel + 8.0 sec userspace.

#add entry to grub.cfg such as

menuentry "Archlinux Custom Kernel - vmlinuz-3.10.7-gentoo" {
insmod part_msdos
insmod xfs
set root=(hostdisk//dev/sda,msdos3)
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set dcd07035-8a6e-43a4-a6ed-ba63ffe2ce2e
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.10.7-gentoo rootfstype=xfs root=/dev/sda3
set gfxpayload=text
}

nomorewindows · 2013-09-20 16:27:15

If you wanted the newest kernel, you could just use the kernel from the abs and make the tweaks, then makepkg.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-09-19 19:09:32

archlinux with gentoo kernel

#2 2013-09-19 19:16:46

Re: archlinux with gentoo kernel

#3 2013-09-19 20:05:09

Re: archlinux with gentoo kernel

#4 2013-09-19 20:20:03

Re: archlinux with gentoo kernel

#5 2013-09-19 21:02:13

Re: archlinux with gentoo kernel

#6 2013-09-20 03:37:05

Re: archlinux with gentoo kernel

#7 2013-09-20 14:03:38

Re: archlinux with gentoo kernel

#8 2013-09-20 15:12:05

Re: archlinux with gentoo kernel

#9 2013-09-20 16:20:53

Re: archlinux with gentoo kernel

#10 2013-09-20 16:27:15

Re: archlinux with gentoo kernel

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