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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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Those who custom configure their kernel: what did you gain? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Curious to know the coolest things you achieved by configuring your kernel. I know kernel config can be boring, but I'm hoping someone will have an impressive answer.

For me I have a very lightweight kernel that runs wayland on nvidia without any issues to date.

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[–] atzanteol 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I haven't custom compiled a kernel in ages - does anyone still do this?

It used to be sorta-kinda-necessary back when memory sizes were measured in MB instead of GB. Kernels had to be under a certain size, the module system was a bit slow, memory was at a premium, hardware support was very spotty, etc. I remember applying some guy's patches to a 2.2 kernel to get full-duplex sound on the crappy sound card my Pentium 120 had (Linux has always had garbage audio support).

I think the last time I purposefully created a custom kernel was to enable some experimental scheduler code I hoped would give a performance boost. Was many years ago though.

These days you only do it if you want to learn the process or performance test a system. Or if you're running something like Gentoo - but even then you likely just use the 'default' configuration provided by Gentoo.