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Has anyone done kernel development on a VM, using Virtual Box or another? I'm not quite ready to hose my workstation at work, and would like a virtual environment to much around with the kernel. Suggestions?

Colby Blair
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Yes, I do it all the time, as I don't want to have to reboot my PC every time one of my pointers wrecks havoc or similar stuff. If you just want to experiment, I suggest downloading and installing one of the vanilla kernels from https://www.kernel.org/ and fiddling with those.

user2239930
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  • Cool, thanks! I just realized I also needed to be making ramfs images, the Linux Kernel Development book didn't have that as part of the kernel build (or I haven't read far enough). Took me a while to realize what the errors meant, mkinitramfs to the rescue. – Colby Blair Apr 26 '13 at 21:39
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    Yes, make sure to update your bootloader afterwards so that it can boot your newly compiled kernel. For example: $ update-grub2 – user2239930 Apr 26 '13 at 21:44
  • Yup, had to do some dabblin there too. The other /boot/grub/grub.cfg entries that were working had the initrd entries I was missing, which gave me the clues in needed. In case someone else is reading this thread. – Colby Blair Apr 26 '13 at 22:36