From 747c61066c5e204d4523177e7b49d143dfd4ed52 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bobby Rong Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2021 19:40:22 +0800 Subject: nixos: nixos/doc/manual/configuration/linux-kernel.xml to CommonMark --- .../manual/configuration/linux-kernel.chapter.md | 135 +++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 135 insertions(+) create mode 100644 nixos/doc/manual/configuration/linux-kernel.chapter.md (limited to 'nixos/doc/manual/configuration/linux-kernel.chapter.md') diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/configuration/linux-kernel.chapter.md b/nixos/doc/manual/configuration/linux-kernel.chapter.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..95af1666389 --- /dev/null +++ b/nixos/doc/manual/configuration/linux-kernel.chapter.md @@ -0,0 +1,135 @@ +# Linux Kernel {#sec-kernel-config} + +You can override the Linux kernel and associated packages using the +option `boot.kernelPackages`. For instance, this selects the Linux 3.10 +kernel: + +```nix +boot.kernelPackages = pkgs.linuxPackages_3_10; +``` + +Note that this not only replaces the kernel, but also packages that are +specific to the kernel version, such as the NVIDIA video drivers. This +ensures that driver packages are consistent with the kernel. + +The default Linux kernel configuration should be fine for most users. +You can see the configuration of your current kernel with the following +command: + +```ShellSession +zcat /proc/config.gz +``` + +If you want to change the kernel configuration, you can use the +`packageOverrides` feature (see [](#sec-customising-packages)). For +instance, to enable support for the kernel debugger KGDB: + +```nix +nixpkgs.config.packageOverrides = pkgs: + { linux_3_4 = pkgs.linux_3_4.override { + extraConfig = + '' + KGDB y + ''; + }; + }; +``` + +`extraConfig` takes a list of Linux kernel configuration options, one +per line. The name of the option should not include the prefix +`CONFIG_`. The option value is typically `y`, `n` or `m` (to build +something as a kernel module). + +Kernel modules for hardware devices are generally loaded automatically +by `udev`. You can force a module to be loaded via +[`boot.kernelModules`](options.html#opt-boot.kernelModules), e.g. + +```nix +boot.kernelModules = [ "fuse" "kvm-intel" "coretemp" ]; +``` + +If the module is required early during the boot (e.g. to mount the root +file system), you can use [`boot.initrd.kernelModules`](options.html#opt-boot.initrd.kernelModules): + +```nix +boot.initrd.kernelModules = [ "cifs" ]; +``` + +This causes the specified modules and their dependencies to be added to +the initial ramdisk. + +Kernel runtime parameters can be set through +[`boot.kernel.sysctl`](options.html#opt-boot.kernel.sysctl), e.g. + +```nix +boot.kernel.sysctl."net.ipv4.tcp_keepalive_time" = 120; +``` + +sets the kernel's TCP keepalive time to 120 seconds. To see the +available parameters, run `sysctl -a`. + +## Customize your kernel {#sec-linux-config-customizing} + +The first step before compiling the kernel is to generate an appropriate +`.config` configuration. Either you pass your own config via the +`configfile` setting of `linuxManualConfig`: + +```nix +custom-kernel = super.linuxManualConfig { + inherit (super) stdenv hostPlatform; + inherit (linux_4_9) src; + version = "${linux_4_9.version}-custom"; + + configfile = /home/me/my_kernel_config; + allowImportFromDerivation = true; +}; +``` + +You can edit the config with this snippet (by default `make + menuconfig` won\'t work out of the box on nixos): + +```ShellSession +nix-shell -E 'with import {}; kernelToOverride.overrideAttrs (o: {nativeBuildInputs=o.nativeBuildInputs ++ [ pkg-config ncurses ];})' +``` + +or you can let nixpkgs generate the configuration. Nixpkgs generates it +via answering the interactive kernel utility `make config`. The answers +depend on parameters passed to +`pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/generic.nix` (which you can influence by +overriding `extraConfig, autoModules, + modDirVersion, preferBuiltin, extraConfig`). + +```nix +mptcp93.override ({ + name="mptcp-local"; + + ignoreConfigErrors = true; + autoModules = false; + kernelPreferBuiltin = true; + + enableParallelBuilding = true; + + extraConfig = '' + DEBUG_KERNEL y + FRAME_POINTER y + KGDB y + KGDB_SERIAL_CONSOLE y + DEBUG_INFO y + ''; +}); +``` + +## Developing kernel modules {#sec-linux-config-developing-modules} + +When developing kernel modules it\'s often convenient to run +edit-compile-run loop as quickly as possible. See below snippet as an +example of developing `mellanox` drivers. + +```ShellSession +$ nix-build '' -A linuxPackages.kernel.dev +$ nix-shell '' -A linuxPackages.kernel +$ unpackPhase +$ cd linux-* +$ make -C $dev/lib/modules/*/build M=$(pwd)/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox modules +# insmod ./drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/mlx5_core.ko +``` -- cgit 1.4.1