genkernel still maintained?

[linux_os2]

Is genkernel still maintained?
if so where can an issue be opened?

[John R. Graham]

It's still somewhat maintained, but clearly on the way to being deprecated. Notwithstanding, the place to open issues on all Gentoo-developed tools is bugs.gentoo.org.

You might also want to try describing your issue here on the Forums.

- John
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[Ionen]

It's barely on life support by gentoo's releng because they still rely on it last I know of, but their plans are to stop using it eventually (migrating does need work) and then there'll probably be no one left to care for it.

I'd really recommend to migrate away from it.

[Cruslan]

What are the suggested option for compiling kernels from source rather than genkernel??

[szatox]

The basics are not going anywhere: make && make install

Genkernel probably will keep working for quite some time too, maintained or not.
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[sam_]

[NichtDerHans]

Out of interest: Where does the Genoo kernel configuration come from?

[sam_]

The gentoo-kernel configuration is based on Fedora's with some bits on top. The intention is for it to default to something full-fat that'll "just work" on most hardware. You're free to customise it.

(I'll take the opportunity to clarify that genkernel never generated any sort of configuration and just had some bundled ancient default ones that haven't been refreshed in a very long time.)

[NichtDerHans]

I know, it was just for the sake of interest. I already had Fedora in the back of my mind somehow. I wasn't sure anymore.

I use the method “Using /etc/kernel/config.d” from https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Distribution_Kernel#Modifying_kernel_configuration

[linux_os2]

[mark4]

[zen_desu]

dist-kernel provides a config that works on _most_ systems, if it does not, you can provide kernel .config patches to it. If you haven't tried it, I think it's seriously worth a try. The -bin variant is more or less the same but doesn't require compiling. The default config for gentoo-kernel is rather "bloated" but it should be very compatible, and most "bloat" is in modules. This mostly means it can take quite some time to compile.

dist-kernel supports using ugrd and dracut. Both options should work ootb with little to no config. I think it's good that the initramfs generator is somewhat separated from kernel config, but it should be able to check that certain required modules are enabled if the image is built for a specific kernel.

That config may be "canned" but it lets you edit it. You can even use "savedconfig" and provide the entire kernel config, allowing portage to automate using that and installing it, etc.
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[mark4]

[Hu]

Dracut is not required. I have for years built systems with an initramfs and not used dracut to do it. Perhaps dracut is convenient, but it is not needed.

As to your other complaint, I am a bit confused. You are older than the planet itself, and still have not learned how to build a kernel on your own - which is fine, if you want to rely on a curated configuration that someone else asserts will work on common hardware. You want genkernel to keep providing guidance, which is fine. You don't want to use a canned kernel - with its curated configuration - because that negates the reason you run Gentoo. Which is it? Do you want someone doing the work of curating a kernel for you, or do you want to roll your own? If you want it curated, why is genkernel good and a Gentoo dist-kernel bad? If you want to roll your own, why are you using genkernel?

Using menuconfig is part of the base kernel build. Genkernel exposes an option to let you use that interface, but if you want to roll your own, you are welcome to use menuconfig without going through genkernel to get there.

[zen_desu]

dist-kernel doesn't require using an initramfs, but using one may be more reliable, especially if you do not intend to adjust kernel config. An easy example is the "nvme" kmod which is not builtin so basically makes an initramfs required unless (simple) kernel config adjustments are made. I think something like dracut expects you have a variety of kmods built unless using hostonly, and won't really check you have ones for the system building it. This can make it easy to have issues booting with dracut if using a custom or modified kernel without paying close attention.

[pietinger]

[mark4]

[mark4]