Custom Debian Linux Kernel Debian package w/ initrd

My attempt to build a new Debian Linux Kernel was thwarted by initrd! Thanks to Diane Trout mentioning that when using make-kpkg, to build a kernel image, doesn't automatically make an initrd image. I investigated further and found out if you use --initrd, it will automatically generate the initrd image.

Below are the instructions for building a custom Debian Linux Kernel Debian package:

1) Install the following Debian packages (Need access to Universe repository for Ubuntu):

• kernel-package
• initrd-tools

2) Get the kernel source (choose version, I used 2.6.17):

apt-get install linux-source-2.6.17

3) Decompress /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.17.tar.bz2

4) cd /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.17

5) Switch to root if you haven't done so already (sudo -s)

6) type 'make menuconfig' to configure your kernel

It may require installing libncurses5 and libcurses5-dev.

7) type 'make-kpkg --revision 1.0 --append-to-version -custom --initrd kernel_image'

Feel free to change the revision number or and use something other than custom (or omit --revision and --append-to-version to use defaults).

8) type 'cd ..'

9) dpkg --install linux-image-2.6.17-custom_1.0_amd64.deb

Except using the .deb package name which was generated on your computer.

10) Reboot and enjoy!