Handbook:Parts/Installation/Kernel/Dist-Kernel

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Distribution kernels

Distribution Kernels are ebuilds that cover the complete process of unpacking, configuring, compiling, and installing the kernel. The primary advantage of this method is that the kernels are updated to new versions by the package manager as part of @world upgrade. This requires no more involvement than running an emerge command. Distribution kernels default to a configuration supporting the majority of hardware, however two mechanisms are offered for customization: savedconfig and config snippets. See the project page for more details on configuration.

Optional: Signed kernel modules

The kernel modules in the prebuilt distribution kernel (sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin) are already signed. To sign the modules of kernels built from source enable the modules-sign USE flag, and optionally specify which key to use for signing in /etc/portage/make.conf:

FILE /etc/portage/make.confEnable module signing

USE="modules-sign"

# Optionally, to use custom signing keys.
MODULES_SIGN_KEY="/path/to/kernel_key.pem"
MODULES_SIGN_CERT="/path/to/kernel_key.pem" # Only required if the MODULES_SIGN_KEY does not also contain the certificate.
MODULES_SIGN_HASH="sha512" # Defaults to sha512.

If MODULES_SIGN_KEY is not specified the kernel build system will generate a key, it will be stored in /usr/src/linux-x.y.z/certs. It is recommended to manually generate a key to ensure that it will be the same for each kernel release. A key may be generated with:

root #openssl req -new -noenc -utf8 -sha256 -x509 -outform PEM -out kernel_key.pem -keyout kernel_key.pem

Note
The MODULES_SIGN_KEY and MODULES_SIGN_CERT may be different files. For this example the pem file generated by OpenSSL includes both the key and the accompanying certificate, and thus both variables are set to the same value.

OpenSSL will ask some questions about the user generating the key, it is recommended to fill in these questions as detailed as possible.

Store the key in a safe location, at the very least the key should be readable only by the root user. Verify this with:

root #ls -l kernel_key.pem

 -r-------- 1 root root 3164 Jan  4 10:38 kernel_key.pem

If this outputs anything other then the above, correct the permissions with:

root #chown root:root kernel_key.pem

root #chmod 400 kernel_key.pem

Optional: Signing the kernel image (Secure Boot)

The kernel image in the prebuilt distribution kernel (sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin) is already signed for use with Secure Boot. To sign the kernel image of kernels built from source enable the secureboot USE flag, and optionally specify which key to use for signing in /etc/portage/make.conf. Note that signing the kernel image for use with secureboot requires that the kernel modules are also signed, the same key may be used to sign both the kernel image and the kernel modules:

FILE /etc/portage/make.confEnable custom signing keys

USE="modules-sign secureboot"

# Optionally, to use custom signing keys.
MODULES_SIGN_KEY="/path/to/kernel_key.pem"
MODULES_SIGN_CERT="/path/to/kernel_key.pem" # Only required if the MODULES_SIGN_KEY does not also contain the certificate.
MODULES_SIGN_HASH="sha512" # Defaults to sha512.

# Optionally, to boot with secureboot enabled, may be the same or different signing key.
SECUREBOOT_SIGN_KEY="/path/to/kernel_key.pem"
SECUREBOOT_SIGN_CERT="/path/to/kernel_key.pem"

Note
The SECUREBOOT_SIGN_KEY and SECUREBOOT_SIGN_CERT may be different files. For this example the pem file generated by OpenSSL includes both the key and the accompanying certificate, and thus both variables are set to the same value.

Note
For this example the same key that was generated to sign the modules is used to sign the kernel image. It is also possible to generate and use a second separate key for signing the kernel image. The same OpenSSL command as in the previous section may be used again.

See the above section for instructions on generating a new key, the steps may be repeated if a separate key should be used to sign the kernel image.

To successfully boot with Secure Boot enabled, the used bootloader must also be signed and the certificate must be accepted by the UEFI firmware or Shim. This will be explained later in the handbook.

Installing a distribution kernel

To build a kernel with Gentoo patches from source, type:

root #emerge --ask sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel

System administrators who want to avoid compiling the kernel sources locally can instead use precompiled kernel images:

root #emerge --ask sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin

Important
Distribution Kernels, such as sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel and sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin, by default, expect to be installed alongside an initramfs. Before running emerge to install the kernel users should ensure that sys-kernel/installkernel has been configured to utilize an initramfs generator (for example Dracut) as described in the installkernel section.

Upgrading and cleaning up

Once the kernel is installed, the package manager will automatically update it to newer versions. The previous versions will be kept until the package manager is requested to clean up stale packages. To reclaim disk space, stale packages can be trimmed by periodically running emerge with the --depclean option:

root #emerge --depclean

Alternatively, to specifically clean up old kernel versions:

root #emerge --prune sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin

Tip
By design, emerge only removes the kernel build directory. It does not actually remove the kernel modules, nor the installed kernel image. To completely clean-up old kernels, the app-admin/eclean-kernel tool may be used.

Post-install/upgrade tasks

An upgrade of a distribution kernel is capable of triggering an automatic rebuild for external kernel modules installed by other packages (for example: sys-fs/zfs-kmod or x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers). This automated behaviour is enabled by enabling the dist-kernel USE flag. When required, this same flag will also trigger re-generation of the initramfs.

It is highly recommended to enable this flag globally via /etc/portage/make.conf when using a distribution kernel:

FILE /etc/portage/make.confEnabling USE=dist-kernel

USE="dist-kernel"

Manually rebuilding the initramfs or Unified Kernel Image

If required, manually trigger such rebuilds by, after a kernel upgrade, executing:

root #emerge --ask @module-rebuild

If any kernel modules (e.g. ZFS) are needed at early boot, rebuild the initramfs afterward via:

root #

emerge --config sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel

root #

emerge --config sys-kernel/gentoo-kernel-bin

After installing the Distribution Kernel successfully, it is now time to proceed to the next section: Configuring the system.