README.md

kernel-installer

Automatic install script for The Linux kernel

Inspired by LinuxKernelBuild

Script to install the latest [stable/mainline/longterm] kernel from source on Debian-based distributions, for all architectures.

Dependencies

Will be installed when running script.

wget curl git rsync fakeroot build-essential ncurses-dev xz-utils libssl-dev bc liblz4-tool paxctl libelf-dev flex bison

Download the script:

Quick install with default options:

With Curl:

curl -sSL https://github.com/tmiland/kernel-installer/raw/main/kernel_installer.sh | bash || exit 0

With Wget:

wget -qO - https://github.com/tmiland/kernel-installer/raw/main/kernel_installer.sh | bash || exit 0

For latest release

curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/tmiland/kernel-installer/releases/latest \
| grep "browser_download_url.*sh" \
| cut -d : -f 2,3 \
| tr -d \" \
| wget -qi -

For main branch

wget https://github.com/tmiland/kernel-installer/raw/main/kernel_installer.sh

Set execute permission:

chmod +x kernel_installer.sh

For usage, run:

./kernel_installer.sh -h

Help output:

If called without arguments, installs stable kernel using /opt/linux

--help                 |-h          display this help and exit
--kernel               |-k          kernel version of choice
--stable               |-s          stable kernel version 5.18
--mainline             |-m          mainline kernel version 5.18
--longterm             |-l          longterm kernel version 5.15.41
--dir                  |-d          install directory
--kexec                |-x          load new kernel without reboot
--config               |-c          set configuration target
--verbose              |-v          increase verbosity
--get-verified-tarball |-gvt        cryptographically verify kernel tarball
--nproc                |-n          set the number of processing units to use
--enable-debug-info    |-edi        enable debug info
--lowlatency           |-low        convert generic config to lowlatency
--changelog            |-cl         view changelog for kernel version
--update               |-upd        check for script update
--uninstall            |-u          uninstall kernel

To use opt --kernel:

./kernel_installer.sh --kernel 5.17.8

Else use:

./kernel_installer.sh --stable, --mainline or --longterm separately

To use --dir opt:

./kernel_installer.sh --dir /path/to/dir

To load kernel without reboot:

./kernel_installer.sh --kexec

To use --config:

./kernel_installer.sh --config menuconfig

default is olddefconfig

Configuration targets:

config          - Update current config utilising a line-oriented program
nconfig         - Update current config utilising a ncurses menu based program
menuconfig      - Update current config utilising a menu based program
xconfig         - Update current config utilising a QT based front-end
gconfig         - Update current config utilising a GTK based front-end
oldconfig       - Update current config utilising a provided .config as base
localmodconfig  - Update current config disabling modules not loaded
localyesconfig  - Update current config converting local mods to core
silentoldconfig - Same as oldconfig, but quietly, additionally update deps
defconfig       - New config with default from ARCH supplied defconfig
savedefconfig   - Save current config as ./defconfig (minimal config)
allnoconfig     - New config where all options are answered with no
allyesconfig    - New config where all options are accepted with yes
allmodconfig    - New config selecting modules when possible
alldefconfig    - New config with all symbols set to default
randconfig      - New config with random answer to all options
listnewconfig   - List new options
olddefconfig    - Same as silentoldconfig but sets new symbols to their default value
kvmconfig       - Enable additional options for guest kernel support
tinyconfig      - Configure the tiniest possible kernel

To use --get-verified-tarball:

./kernel_installer.sh --get-verified-tarball

• Linux kernel releases PGP signatures
• Source script get-verified-tarball
• Installing dependencies gnupg2 and gpgv2 if not installed

Used together:

./kernel_installer.sh --stable --config menuconfig --kexec --dir /path/to/dir --get-verified-tarball

Watch install log:

tail -f ./kernel_installer.log

• installation log in kernel_installer.log
• ./src/slib.sh function script is sourced remotely if not found locally
  • This script is a combination of functions for spinners, colors and logging
    • Source: Spinner: swelljoe/spinner
    • Source: Run ok: swelljoe/run_ok
    • Source: Slog: swelljoe/slog
    • Source: Slib: virtualmin/slib

Note: you will need to run this script as root

If root password is not set, type:

sudo passwd root

Then:

su root

Uninstall kernel

To uninstall previously installed kernel:

./kernel_installer.sh --uninstall --kernel 5.17.7

• You will be prompted with a yes/no answer

Testing

Tested and working on: Debian 11

• See kernel_installer.log

Feature request and bug reports

• Bug report
• Feature request

Donations

• PayPal me
• [BTC] : 33mjmoPxqfXnWNsvy8gvMZrrcG3gEa3YDM

Web Hosting

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DigitalOcean

Disclaimer

*** Use at own risk ***

License

MIT License