a way ?

i think the distro's kernel is so big ! 15Mo !

a way to have 500ko for my personnal kernel ?



--
Amicalement,

german


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 5/29/2026 1:10 PM, german usenet wrote:

a way ?

i think the distro's kernel is so big ! 15Mo !

a way to have 500ko for my personnal kernel ?

You will have to compile your own kernel, by eliminating un-neccesary
drivers and functions using a config file "make configure".

Welcome to Linux From Scratch!
<https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/>

--

@~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
/ v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
/( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 5/29/2026 1:10 PM, german usenet wrote:

a way ?

i think the distro's kernel is so big ! 15Mo !

BTW, you can also switch to a smaller windows manager and desktop
environment. KDE and GNOME are actually very big and fat.

--

@~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
/ v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
/( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sat, 5/30/2026 11:35 AM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:

On 5/29/2026 1:10 PM, german usenet wrote:

a way ?

i think the distro's kernel is so big ! 15Mo !

a way to have 500ko for my personnal kernel ?

You will have to compile your own kernel, by eliminating un-neccesary drivers and functions using a config file "make configure".

Welcome to Linux From Scratch!
<https://www.linuxfromscratch.org/>

When you build a kernel, there is an ncurses menu and
you select items. If you choose to make no changes
to the kernel with such a menu, then the build is a
"generic kernel".

https://www.forlinx.net/industrial-news/How-Configure-Linux-Kernel-make-menuconfig-516.html

For some items in the kernel config, you have to be careful as
the controls are in two place in the menu. And the changes
you make in one place, have to be reflected in a second place.
Something involving storage works that way, but it's been
quite a while since I built a kernel.

It's not hard work doing that, but it is tedious.

You get more experience at it, when doing this. One
of the virtues extolled here, is you can have the build
done to be "optimal for a particular processor", so you
could have the build done so it "runs best on a Core2duo".
That gets you a whole 1% more performance :-)

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Kernel/Configuration

You need a bit of storage space, to work. You should
have as much space, as if you were building Firefox from source :-)

The procedure today, likely involves finding or building
a copy of Rust to do it. As I think there is some Rust
in the kernel now. And how you build the kernel, may affect
the ability to read a kernel panic later, with a kernel debugger.
If you configure the kernel incorrectly, that stops working properly.

It will take a number of tries to get it right, so you might
also need "make clean" or the like, before the final run. There should be
two levels of clean, one "wipes out everything" (even menu changes),
the other would just wipe obj files so everything is compiled from
scratch.

Paul

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sat, 30 May 2026 14:15:41 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote:
On Sat, 5/30/2026 11:35 AM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:

When you build a kernel, there is an ncurses menu and
you select items. If you choose to make no changes
to the kernel with such a menu, then the build is a
"generic kernel".

https://www.forlinx.net/industrial-news/How-Configure-Linux-Kernel-make- menuconfig-516.html

For some items in the kernel config, you have to be careful as
the controls are in two place in the menu. And the changes
[...trimmed...]
Paul
[...trimmed...]

A 500 KB general-purpose Mint kernel is not a realistic target. You can make a smaller kernel, but once you need normal PC storage, filesystems, USB, networking, firmware loading, initramfs support, etc., the size comes back quickly.

If the goal is learning, start with Mint's current config:

cp /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config make olddefconfig make menuconfig

Then remove hardware and filesystems you truly do not need. Keep the old kernel installed and add the new one as an extra boot entry, not a replacement.

If the goal is actually a tiny Linux system, I would look at Tiny Core, Buildroot, Alpine, or a custom initramfs instead. They fit that job better than trying to turn a desktop Mint kernel into an embedded one.

--
TheLastSysop <thelastsysop@dev.null>
"I survived the great rm -rf / rehearsal and all I got was this .signature."

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 5/31/2026 6:27 AM, TheLastSysop wrote:

If the goal is actually a tiny Linux system, I would look at Tiny Core, Buildroot, Alpine, or a custom initramfs instead. They fit that job better than
trying to turn a desktop Mint kernel into an embedded one.

Some server spins of famous Linux distributions might do??

--

@~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
/ v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
/( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sun, 31 May 2026 13:21:59 +0800, "Mr. Man-wai Chang" ><toylet.toylet@gmail.com> wrote:
On 5/31/2026 6:27 AM, TheLastSysop wrote:

Some server spins of famous Linux distributions might do??

If the goal is actually a tiny Linux system, I would look at Tiny Core,
Buildroot, Alpine, or a custom initramfs instead. They fit that job better >> than
trying to turn a desktop Mint kernel into an embedded one.

They can, depending on the target.

A Debian or Ubuntu Server minimal install is usually a good "small but still normal distro" answer. You keep apt, security updates, familiar packages, and hardware support, while avoiding most of the desktop stack.

If the goal is *really* tiny, though, the server editions still are not in the same class as Alpine, Tiny Core, Buildroot, or a hand-built initramfs. Those are
better when the machine is very RAM/disk constrained or when boot time matters.

For a Mint-flavored desktop machine I would not chase a special tiny kernel first. Remove unused services/packages, avoid heavy desktop extras, and use a minimal/server base if you do not actually need the Mint desktop.

--
TheLastSysop <thelastsysop@dev.null>
"I survived the great rm -rf / rehearsal and all I got was this .signature."

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.15
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)