The core around which all distributions are built is the Linux kernel. It is the layer between the user programs and your system hardware. Gentoo provides its users several possible kernel sources. A full listing with description is available at the Gentoo Kernel Guide.

For -based systems we have gentoo-sources (kernel source patched for extra features).

Choose your kernel source and install it using emerge.

# emerge gentoo-sources

When you take a look in /usr/src you should see a symlink called linux pointing to your kernel source. In this case, the installed kernel source points to gentoo-sources-. Your version may be different, so keep this in mind.

# ls -l /usr/src/linux
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root   root    12 Oct 13 11:04 /usr/src/linux -> linux-

Now it is time to configure and compile your kernel source. You can use genkernel for this, which will build a generic kernel as used by the Installation CD. We explain the "manual" configuration first though, as it is the best way to optimize your environment.

If you want to manually configure your kernel, continue now with Default: Manual Configuration. If you want to use genkernel you should read Alternative: Using genkernel instead.

Manually configuring a kernel is often seen as the most difficult procedure a Linux user ever has to perform. Nothing is less true -- after configuring a couple of kernels you don't even remember that it was difficult ;)

However, one thing is true: you must know your system when you start configuring a kernel manually. Most information can be gathered by emerging pciutils (emerge pciutils) which contains lspci. You will now be able to use lspci within the chrooted environment. You may safely ignore any pcilib warnings (like pcilib: cannot open /sys/bus/pci/devices) that lspci throws out. Alternatively, you can run lspci from a non-chrooted environment. The results are the same. You can also run lsmod to see what kernel modules the Installation CD uses (it might provide you with a nice hint on what to enable).

Now go to your kernel source directory and execute make menuconfig. This will fire up an ncurses-based configuration menu.

# cd /usr/src/linux
# make menuconfig

You will be greeted with several configuration sections. We'll first list some options you must activate (otherwise Gentoo will not function, or not function properly without additional tweaks).

Make sure that every driver that is vital to the booting of your system (such as SCSI controller, ...) is compiled in the kernel and not as a module, otherwise your system will not be able to boot completely.

We shall then select the exact processor type. The x86_64 kernel maintainer strongly recommends users enable MCE features so that they are able to be notified of any hardware problems. On x86_64, these errors are not printed to dmesg like on other architectures, but to /dev/mcelog. This requires the app-admin/mcelog package. Make sure you select IA32 Emulation if you want to be able to run 32-bit programs. Gentoo will install a multilib system (mixed 32-bit/64-bit computing) by default, so this option is required.

Processor type and features  --->
   [ ] Machine Check / overheating reporting 
   [ ]   Intel MCE Features
   [ ]   AMD MCE Features
  Processor family (AMD-Opteron/Athlon64)  --->
    ( ) Opteron/Athlon64/Hammer/K8
    ( ) Intel P4 / older Netburst based Xeon
    ( ) Core 2/newer Xeon
    ( ) Intel Atom
    ( ) Generic-x86-64
Executable file formats / Emulations  --->
   [*] IA32 Emulation

Now select the correct processor family:

Processor type and features --->
  (Change according to your system)
  (Athlon/Duron/K7) Processor family

Now go to File Systems and select support for the filesystems you use. Don't compile them as modules, otherwise your Gentoo system will not be able to mount your partitions. Also select Virtual memory and /proc file system.

File systems --->
  Pseudo Filesystems --->
    [*] /proc file system support
    [*] Virtual memory file system support (former shm fs)

(Select one or more of the following options as needed by your system)
  <*> Second extended fs support
  <*> Ext3 journalling file system support
  <*> The Extended 4 (ext4) filesystem
  <*> Reiserfs support
  <*> JFS filesystem support
  <*> XFS filesystem support
  ...
  Pseudo Filesystems --->
    [*] /proc file system support
    [*] Virtual memory file system support (former shm fs)

(Enable GPT partition label support if you used that previously)
  Partition Types --->
    [*] Advanced partition selection
      ...
      [*] EFI GUID Partition support

If you are using PPPoE to connect to the Internet or you are using a dial-up modem, you will need the following options in the kernel:

Device Drivers --->
  Networking device Support --->
    <*> PPP (point-to-point protocol) support
    <*>   PPP support for async serial ports
    <*>   PPP support for sync tty ports

The two compression options won't harm but are not definitely needed, neither does the PPP over Ethernet option, that might only be used by ppp when configured to do kernel mode PPPoE.

If you require it, don't forget to include support in the kernel for your ethernet card.

If you have an Intel CPU that supports HyperThreading (tm), or you have a multi-CPU system, you should activate "Symmetric multi-processing support":

If you have a multi-CPU Opteron or a multi-core (e.g. AMD64 X2) system, you should activate "Symmetric multi-processing support":

Processor type and features  --->
  [*] Symmetric multi-processing support

If you have more than 4GB of RAM, you need to enable "High Memory Support (64G)".

If you use USB Input Devices (like Keyboard or Mouse) don't forget to enable those as well:

Device Drivers --->
  [*] HID Devices  --->
    <*>   USB Human Interface Device (full HID) support

If you want PCMCIA support for your laptop, don't forget to enable support for the PCMCIA card bridge present in your system:

Bus options (PCI etc.)  --->
  PCCARD (PCMCIA/CardBus) support  --->
    <*> PCCard (PCMCIA/CardBus) support
(select 16 bit if you need support for older PCMCIA cards. Most people want this.)
    <*>   16-bit PCMCIA support
    [*]   32-bit CardBus support
(select the relevant bridges below)
    *** PC-card bridges ***
    <*> CardBus yenta-compatible bridge support (NEW)
    <*> Cirrus PD6729 compatible bridge support (NEW)
    <*> i82092 compatible bridge support (NEW)

When you've finished configuring the kernel, continue with Compiling and Installing.

Now that your kernel is configured, it is time to compile and install it. Exit the configuration and start the compilation process:

# make && make modules_install

When the kernel has finished compiling, copy the kernel image to /boot. Use whatever name you feel is appropriate for your kernel choice and remember it as you will need it later on when you configure your bootloader. Remember to replace with the name and version of your kernel.

# cp arch//boot/bzImage /boot/

Now continue with Kernel Modules.