Re: Generate the config file for kernel compilation non-interactively in script.

[Theodore Ts'o]

On Fri, Jan 01, 2021 at 12:51:13PM +0800, Hongyi Zhao wrote:
> 
> I want to build the realtime Linux for ROS 2 according to the
> guidelines here:
> <https://index.ros.org/doc/ros2/Tutorials/Building-Realtime-rt_preempt-kernel-for-ROS-2/>.
> 
> For this purpose, I must enable the rt_preempt relative options in the
> kernel withe the following method interactively:
> 
> But this is very inconvenient for doing the above job in script. Is
> there an alternative method to generate the above configurations for
> kernel compilation  non-interactively in script.

What I do for a slightly different use case is to use defconfigs.
After setting up a minimum kernel that has what I need for my use case
(in my case, to build a kernel that works for kvm-xfstests and
gce-xfststs), I save a defconfig: "make savedefconfig", and then stash
in a git repository:

https://github.com/tytso/xfstests-bld/tree/master/kernel-configs

Then when I need to build a kernel, I just copy a defconfig to
.config, and then run the command "make olddefconfig" to expand it
out.  The reason why I use defconfigs is that very often, at least for
my use cases, a defconfig generated for kernel version X.Y tends to
work for X.Y+1, X.Y+2, etc.  That's not always true, of course, which
is why there are a few extra lines added to:

https://github.com/tytso/xfstests-bld/blob/master/kernel-configs/x86_64-config-4.19

This was needed so that the this defconfig will work for 4.19.y
through 5.3.y.  The special cases were needed for 5.1 and 5.2, but I
haven't needed it for any other kernel versions in terms of making a
kernel that would correctly boot on KVM and GCE and correctly run
xfstests for ext4, xfs, btrfs, f2fs, etc.  So I just create a
defconfig for each LTS kernel version, and for the most part, it will
work for future kernel versions until the next LTS kerenl version gets
released, at which point I create a new defconfig for my test
appliance use case.

If your goal is to build newer kernel versions for RT_PREMPT kernels
for your use case, perhaps this technique will be helpful for you.

Hope this helps,

					- Ted