kconfig(1) INTERACTIVE UNIX System kconfig(1)
NAME
kconfig - configure, build, and install a kernel
SYNOPSIS
kconfig [ -r root_directory ]
DESCRIPTION
The kconfig command provides a menu interface to configure,
build, or install a kernel. For additional information, see
the section ``Using kconfig to Tailor Your System Kernel''
in the ``INTERACTIVE UNIX Operating System Maintenance Pro-
cedures'' in the INTERACTIVE UNIX Operating System Guide.
By default, the root of the directory tree in which the con-
figuration takes place, etc/conf, is /; this may be overrid-
den by setting the environment variable $ROOT or by using
the -r option on the command line. This root will be
referred to as $ROOT throughout this manual entry.
System files are contained in $ROOT/etc/conf/cf.d. The
kconfig command performs all modifications to the system
files via menu choices.
The possible responses to kconfig menus are:
a number corresponding to the menu item choice
an m, to return to the previous menu
a q, to quit and exit the program
Each of the above must be followed by ENTER.
Where a kconfig query ends with text within parentheses,
that text is the default. Using ENTER will select the
default. Otherwise, enter the requested information, fol-
lowed by ENTER.
Menus
If the $ROOT directory has not been specified, kconfig will
query for the needed information before the first menu
appears.
Top Level Menu
MAIN MENU
1) CONFIGURE KERNEL
2) BUILD A KERNEL
3) INSTALL A KERNEL
Enter Choice [1-3,q]:
Choice 1 will cause the Kernel Configuration Menu to be
displayed (see Kernel Configuration Menu below).
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Choice 2 will build the kernel by executing
$ROOT/etc/conf/bin/idbuild. The kernel will be built as
configured in choice 1. If the kernel build is successful,
kconfig will query for kernel installation. If the kernel
is to be installed, /etc/inskern will be executed (see
inskern(1)).
Choice 3 will put up the Install Kernel Menu, which is used
to install a previously built kernel (see Install Kernel
Menu below).
Install Kernel Menu
Before displaying the menu, kconfig prints a notice that a
system shutdown is required to install a kernel (see
shutdown(1M)). This menu displays all kernels contained in
the $ROOT/etc/conf/kconfig.d directory. For example:
CHOOSE THE KERNEL TO INSTALL
1) unix.1
2) unix.2
Enter Choice [1-2,m,q]:
The number chosen indicates which kernel will be installed.
After verifying the choice, kconfig queries for the shutdown
grace period and executes /etc/inskern to install the ker-
nel.
Kernel Configuration Menu
The kernel configuration menu presents menu choices for
modifying system file(s). After returning from the Confi-
guration Menu, if modifications were made, kconfig asks
whether to save the modified system file(s).
CONFIGURATION MENU
1) ADD DRIVER
2) REMOVE DRIVER
3) ADD FACILITY
4) REMOVE FACILITY
5) ADD DEFAULT PARAMETERS FOR MEMORY SIZE
6) ADD TUNABLE PARAMETERS
7) DISPLAY HIGH PERFORMANCE DISK DRIVER CONFIGURATION
8) CONFIGURE HIGH PERFORMANCE DISK DRIVER
Enter Choice [1-8,m,q]:
Choice 1 puts up the Add Driver Menu, which is used to
include kernel device driver modules in the set of config-
ured modules (see Add Driver Menu below).
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Choice 2 puts up the Remove Driver Menu, which is used to
remove kernel device driver modules from the set of config-
ured modules (see Remove Driver Menu below).
Choice 3 puts up the Add Facility Menu, which is used to
include groups of kernel modules in the set of configured
modules (see Add Facility Menu below).
Choice 4 puts up the Remove Facility Menu, which is used to
remove groups of kernel modules from the set of configured
modules (see Remove Facility Menu below).
Choice 5 puts up the Add Default Parameters For Memory Size
Menu. This menu is used to set predefined tunable parame-
ters based on system memory size (see Add Default Parameters
Menu below).
Choice 6 adds user-entered tunable parameters to the stune
system file. kconfig queries for the parameter name and
value. Using RETURN terminates the additions. If this is a
new parameter (one that is not already in the system file
$ROOT/etc/conf/cf.d/mtune), kconfig will query for minimum,
maximum, and default values.
Choice 7 displays the current configuration of the High Per-
formance Disk Driver if it has previously been configured
using choice 8 below.
Choice 8 presents a series of inquiries and menus used to
configure the High Performance Disk Driver (see ``Configure
High Performance Disk Driver'' below).
Add Driver Menu
This menu lists known drivers that are currently able to be
configured in the sdevice system file. The menu items are
examples only and will vary according to the sdevice file
contents.
CHOOSE A DRIVER TO ADD TO THE CURRENT CONFIGURATION
1) Bell Technologies Hub Board
2) Bell Tech ICC Board Driver
3) Built-in Mouse Driver
4) Line Printer Driver
5) Logitech Bus Mouse Driver
6) Microsoft Bus Mouse Driver
7) Wangtek Cartridge Tape Driver
Enter Choice [1-7,m,q]:
After verifying the choice, kconfig includes the correspond-
ing kernel driver module in the sdevice system file. It
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does this by setting the second field to Y for that entry.
Remove Driver Menu
This menu lists drivers that can be removed from the sdevice
system file. These drivers are modules currently included
in the sdevice file (entries having the second field set to
Y). The menu items are examples only and will vary accord-
ing to the sdevice file contents.
CHOOSE A DRIVER TO REMOVE FROM THE CURRENT CONFIGURATION
1) Serial I/O Driver
2) Floppy Disk Driver
3) Shell Layers Driver
Enter Choice [1-3,m,q]:
After verifying the choice, kconfig removes the correspond-
ing kernel driver module from the system file by setting the
second field to N for that entry.
Add Facility Menu
This menu lists kernel facilities whose modules are not in
the set of currently configured modules. The menu items are
examples only and will vary according to the contents of the
source file.
CHOOSE A FACILITY TO ADD TO THE CURRENT CONFIGURATION
1) Kernel Debugger
2) MS-DOS File System Service
3) Unix Kernel Profiler
4) SunRiver Fiber Optic Station
5) Operating System Messages
6) STREAMS Facilities
7) 2 Kilobyte File System
8) Host Based TCP/IP
9) Network File System
Enter Choice [1-9,m,q]:
After verifying the choice, kconfig adds the corresponding
group of kernel modules to the sdevice file by setting the
second field to Y for that entry.
Remove Facility Menu
This menu lists kernel facilities whose modules are included
in the current sdevice file. The menu items are examples
only and will vary according to the system file contents.
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CHOOSE A FACILITY TO REMOVE FROM THE CURRENT CONFIGURATION
1) MS-DOS File System Service
2) Inter Process Communication
3) Shared Memory
4) Weitek 1167 Support
5) XENIX Shared Memory
6) XENIX Semaphores
7) XENIX File System
Enter Choice [1-7,m,q]:
After verifying the choice, kconfig removes the correspond-
ing group of kernel modules from the system file.
Add Default Parameters For Memory Size Menu
The standard kernel supplied with the system is optimized
for a system with 4 MB of RAM. Although all the memory that
is located when the system is booted will be used, system
performance will increase if the kernel is tuned to make
more efficient use of different amounts of system memory.
Using this option, for higher amounts of RAM, more memory
will be dedicated to system buffers and other kernel struc-
tures as well as increasing certain process-related parame-
ters. If the amount of memory you have installed falls
between the available choices, choose the next lowest
option. The INTERACTIVE UNIX System will operate unreliably
if the system does not have as much memory as the kernel
expects.
This menu lists the memory size categories for which there
are available predefined tunable parameter sets:
CHOOSE THE CLOSEST MEMORY SIZE
1) 4MB
2) 8MB
3) 16MB
Enter choice [1-3,m,q]:
Type the number corresponding to the amount of RAM installed
on your system. After you have selected an option, the sys-
tem will attempt to determine whether you are increasing or
decreasing your memory size from that previously configured
and will prompt for confirmation. When you are increasing
your memory size, if an existing value for a parameter is
larger than the value for that parameter in the defaults for
the chosen memory size, the parameter will retain its
present higher value. However, if you are decreasing your
memory size, all of the default values will be used and a
warning will be given stating that reducing tunable
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parameters could cause the system to run out of resources
under certain circumstances, and to use the Add Tunable
Parameters submenu of the Configuration Menu to increase the
resources being exceeded if this happens.
Configure High Performance Disk Driver
The High Performance Disk Driver (HPDD) is a system of dev-
ice and controller drivers that together provide fast, con-
sistent support for many disk and tape devices. The devices
that are under the domain of the HPDD are fixed disk con-
trollers and SCSI tape drives (see the INTERACTIVE UNIX
Operating System Release Notes for a list of supported dev-
ices). In addition, the HPDD supports a RAM disk, which is
created by reserving a portion of the computer's available
memory, which is then treated as if it were a disk storage
device (see sections 6 and 7 in the ``INTERACTIVE UNIX Sys-
tem Maintenance Procedures'' in the INTERACTIVE UNIX Operat-
ing System Guide for more information about RAM disks). To
support a configuration of these devices that differs from
the default configuration documented in the ``INTERACTIVE
UNIX System Installation Instructions'' in the INTERACTIVE
UNIX Operating System Guide, you must reconfigure the HPDD.
Even if your configuration does not require you to reconfig-
ure the HPDD, you can improve performance at boot time by
doing so. Under the default configuration, upon booting,
the HPDD must determine the type of fixed-disk controller
present; when the HPDD has been reconfigured, this informa-
tion is known, reducing the startup time.
Use this option to:
Add, remove, change, or specify the type of fixed disk
controller.
Change the interrupt vector used by a SCSI host
adapter.
Add, remove, or change the type of tape drive connected
to a SCSI host adapter.
Add, remove, or change the size of a RAM disk.
Once you have reconfigured the HPDD, if you subsequently
make any changes to your system with respect to these dev-
ices (other than replacing a standard AT controller of one
type with a standard AT controller of a different type or
adding or removing fixed disk drives), you will need to
reconfigure it again.
For complete information on configuring the HPDD, refer to
the section ``Hardware Compatibility and Configuration'' in
the ``INTERACTIVE UNIX System Maintenance Procedures.''
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Description File
The kernel module descriptions and group designations used
by the configuration menus to add or remove drivers and
facilities are obtained from the file
$ROOT/etc/conf/kconfig.d/description. This file lists the
kernel module names and description and the group designa-
tions.
Description file format
module - - group -description
name name
Example
asy - - io - AT serial I/O Driver
hub - - io - AT Bell Technologies Hub board
lp - - io - AT Line Printer Driver
sxt - - io - Shell Layers Driver
wt - - io - AT Wangtek cartridge tape driver
- - - ipc - Inter Process Communication
ipc - - ipc - ipc common routines
msg - - ipc - ipc message facility
sem - - ipc - ipc semaphore facility
The module name is the name of the system file entry. The
group name is the group for that module; group name io
designates I/O drivers, which are listed on the Add or
Remove Drivers Menus. A ``-'' in the module name designates
the description used on the Add or Remove Facilities Menus
for the designated group.
For example, the group name ipc designates a kernel facil-
ity. The description field on the line with module name
``-'' and group name ipc is the description used on the Add
or Remove Facilities Menus. The lines with module names and
group ipc designate the module list for that group. In this
case, adding or removing the facility Inter Process Communi-
cation would add or remove the modules ipc, msg, and sem.
Note that the ``-'' columns in the above example must be
present. These fields are reserved for future function
information.
FILES
$ROOT/etc/conf/kconfig.d
SEE ALSO
idbuild(1M), inskern(1), shutdown(1M).
``INTERACTIVE UNIX Operating System Maintenance Pro-
cedures'' in the INTERACTIVE UNIX Operating System Guide.
WARNINGS
The kconfig command can be executed only by user root. To
install a kernel, kconfig should be executed from the /
(root) directory.
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ADDED VALUE
This entry, supplied by INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, is
an extension of UNIX System V.
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