compiled as a module. A response of ? displays context help for that specific
options, if available. (If you choose ? and no help is available, you can turn to
the vast Internet resources to find information.) We recommend that you
avoid the make config utility.
If you prefer to use a command-line interface, you can use make
menuconfig to configure the Linux kernel. menuconfig provides a
graphical wrapper around a text interface. Although it is not as raw as make
config, menuconfig is not a fancy graphical interface either; you cannot
use a mouse but must navigate through it using keyboard commands. The
same information presented in make config is presented by make
menuconfig, but it looks a little nicer. Now, at least you can move back and
forth in the selection process if you change your mind or make a mistake.
In make menuconfig, you use the arrow keys to move the selector up and
down and the spacebar to toggle a selection. The Tab key moves the focus at
the bottom of the screen to either Select, Exit, or Help.
If a graphical desktop is not available, menuconfig is the best you can do.
However, both menuconfig and xconfig (see the following explanation
of each) are improvements over editing the .config file directly. If you
want to configure the kernel through a true graphical interface—with mouse
support and clickable buttons—make xconfig is the best configuration
utility option. To use this utility, you must have the X Window System
running. The application xconfig is really nothing but a Tcl/Tk graphics
widget set that provides borders, menus, dialog boxes, and the like. Its
interface is used to wrap around data files that are parsed at execution time.
After loading this utility, you use it by clicking the buttons that list the
configuration options. Each button you click opens another window that has
the detailed configuration options for that subsection. Three buttons are at the
bottom of each window: Main Menu, Next, and Prev(ious). Clicking the Main
Menu button closes the current window and displays the main window.
Clicking Next takes you to the next configuration section. When configuring
a kernel from scratch, click the button labeled Code Maturity Level Options
and then continue to click the Next button in each subsection window to
proceed through all the kernel configuration choices. When you have selected
all options, the main menu is again displayed. The buttons on the lower right
of the main menu are for saving and loading configurations. Their functions
are self-explanatory. If you just want to have a look, go exploring! Nothing
will be changed if you elect not to save it.
If you are upgrading kernels from a previous release, it is not necessary to go