We'll have a bit more to say about this case at the end of the article. Fortunately, building a Linux kernel is very easy. We'll go through each of the steps in sequence. Getting Started Before you can begin to build a new kernel, several prerequisites must be met. The example output indicates that both packages are present on this system.
X completes the kernel version number.
The i386 portion of the filename will also be replaced by the corresponding abbreviation for other architectures on those systems. Alternatively, you can download the kernel sources from the Internet and then just unpack the tar file in the usual manner. Patches are generally needed only when adding additional software facilities obtained from the Internet.