How do I apply a patch to my Linux kernel?

Question

I am trying to compile the iscsi-target software SCST. It wants me to apply a patch to my Linux kernel in order to allow for certain performance gains. The problem is I still new to Linux development. Where do I begin? How do I apply the patch? Do I need to recompile the kernel? Help!

I am running Ubuntu 10.04.3 amd64

Kernel version 2.6.32-28-server

Answer 1

Your Linux distribution usually has its own instructions. Search their website or ask on IRC – or at least tell us the distro; without knowing it, it's impossible to provide a reliable anwer.

• For Ubuntu, read this page.

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The generic instructions are:

1. Download the kernel source from Kernel.org. "Stable" is probably the best choice. Extract to a convenient place (I use ~/src/linux).

   • Read the file named README.

2. Once inside the source directory, copy the current kernel's configuration, with:
   zcat /proc/config.gz > .config

3. Apply the patch, with:
   patch -p1 < foo.patch (try -p0 if it gets rejected).

4. Compile the kernel with:
   make silentoldconfig && make

5. Install the modules with:
   sudo make modules_install

6. Install the kernel image .../linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage to whatever location your bootloader looks in.