Different configurations of same kernel version

[nagmat84]

I use sys-kernel/gentoo-sources with custom configurations. In the past, I have been using rEFInd as my boot manager and have been installing my kernels completely manually. This means I only made the bzImage and modules, but moved things into the correct final directories. Now, I uninstalled rEFInd, switched to systemd-boot and I finally got things semi-automated with installkernel, dracut and systemd-boot. I use unified kernels and EFI boot.

How do I allow different configurations (i.e. different settings in the kernel configuration and different dracut settings) of the same kernel version?

For example, in the past, when I wanted to try something but wasn't sure if it would break the boot process, I simply created different EFI images in /boot/EFI/Gentoo/ for the same kernel version by appending a suffix after the version identifier like "bzImage-6.6.30-gentoo-stable.efi", "bzImage-6.6.30-gentoo-something.efi", etc., and rEFInd offered me different boot options.

Now, when I run "make install" within the kernel source directory, I automatically get "/boot/EFI/Linux/<some-id>-6.6.30-gentoo.efi" and a kernel of the same version overwrites the existing version.

[logrusx]

Set CONFIG_LOCALVERSION in your testing config. The rest should be taken care of automatically. This way you get separate /lib/modules directory and and if I'm not missing something, in you previous way you could mess with the modules of your stable kernel.

Best Regards,
Georgi