this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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Linux
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Wow am I so old that this isn’t a normal thing anymore?
I've been using Linux as my main desktop/laptop operating system since 2018 and I've never compiled a kernel, if that's any indication. I've never needed to I guess. Might be fun to tinker with sometime but I don't think any Linux noobs would be inclined to compile their own kernel these days.
I have been using 10+ distros and never compiled pretty much any regular package I use daily
I’ve been using Linux since RedHat 3.0.3 and when Gentoo first came around I was rebuilding kernels left and right. Then with Arch I continued it trying to get the absolute best performance I could out of old hardware. Nowadays I float back and forth between Windows and MacOS (ease of use) but still have several headless Linux systems in the house I can mess around in. It’s been years since I’ve compiled a kernel from scratch but I’m sure it’s even more user friendly now.
Most of the time the kernel is built by distro packaging these days, you're really only down and dirty with it if you need to patch the source yourself.
I haven't done it in ages, but from what I remember, there wasn't anything much to it.
Nah it’s pretty straight forward. Just telling the compiler what to compile in for your situation and then compile. Sure you can compile in kernel modules you will never see in binary builds but in today’s hardware it’s nearly pointless.