Chapter 10. Configuring your Linux Kernel

Table of Contents
10.1. Installing the Linux Kernel source
10.2. Knowing your hardware
10.3. Kernel compilation - the Linux 1.2.13 kernel
10.4. Kernel compilation - the Linux 1.3.x, 2.0.x, and 2.2.x kernels
10.5. Note on PPP-2.x and /proc/net/dev
10.6. General kernel config considerations for PPP

In order to use PPP, your Linux kernel must be compiled to include PPP support. Obtain the Linux source code for your kernel if you do not already have this - it belongs in /usr/src/linux on Linux's standard file system.

Check out this directory - many Linux distributions install the source tree (the files and subdirectories) as part of their installation process.

At bootup, your Linux kernel prints out a great deal of information. Amongst this is information about PPP support and if the kernel includes it. To view this information, look at your syslog file or use

dmesg | less
to display the information to the screen. If your kernel includes PPP support, you will see lines like

PPP Dynamic channel allocation code copyright 1995 Caldera, Inc.
PPP line discipline registered.

(this is for the Linux 2.x.x kernel series).

Linux kernel sources can be obtained by ftp from sunsite.unc.edu or its mirror sites.