Questions on installing a new kernel

[John Murphy]

James Schmidt <james at JamesSchmidt.Com> wrote:

>Is there a way to install a new kernel without having it overwrite
>kernel.old and /modules.old with the existing kernel and /modules?

kernel.old is just an automatic last resort backup to cover occasions
when you forgot to back up a good working kernel with:
cp /kernel /kernel.nearly-V1 or similar.

>For example, I am in the process of experimenting with new kernels and I
>am doing a lot of kernel compiles and installs.  I have a good kernel.old,
>but every time I compile and install a new experimental kernel, it
>overwrites my good kernel.old with the previous new kernel image I
>previously compiled and installed (does that make sense?)

Yep.  Had to read it twice though :)

>I'd like a static kernel.old and modules.old that I know is good that I
>can boot from regardless of how many kernels I have compiled and
>installed.

There's an option you can put in /etc/make.conf to stop endlessly building
modules while you're experimenting.  I think it was NOMODULES=YES but check
in /etc/defaults/make.conf for precision.

There may be a limit to the length of a kernel filename.  I'm not sure,
but you can probably have compiled kernels around with arbitrary names
which you can load by interrupting the boot countdown and typing:
unload
boot /whatever.kernel

HTH
John.