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System Configuration—Keeping it UpdatedAfter finishing the kernel building process, you are ready to install the new kernel.This is shown in the following command:# make installkernel KERNCONF=MYSERVERThe recently compiled kernel and associated modules will be installed in the /boot/kernel and /boot/modules respectively. You may notice that there is a /boot/GENERIC directory, which is kept for the worst case scenario.Rebooting the system will load your new customized kernel. You can verify this byseeing the boot messages or uname(1) command after system boot up:# uname -vFreeBSD 7.0-STABLE #2: Mon Jan 15 13:35:36 BST 2007net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/MYSERVERroot@server.example.Creating a custom kernel may look pretty straightforward, there are a few notes thatyou should always consider, before building your new custom kernel. These notesare listed here:• Make sure that you have read the /usr/src/UPDATING file. This file containsimportant notes that may affect your system behavior.• Make sure that your source tree is up-to-date and has all the necessarycritical updates.• Revise your kernel configuration file. Missing modules may halt your systemduring boot up process. Make sure that all the necessary modules are presentin the kernel configuration file.• Read the notes for modules that you use in the respective NOTES file. Thereare a number of important notes that may have a major effect on your newlycompiled kernel.Rebuilding WorldRebuilding the kernel does not mean that everything is made up-to-date. Rebuildingworld (mostly referred to as buildworld) is a method to recompile the whole system(except the kernel part) using the source code. This includes all the system utilitiesand libraries.This would be useful when a major library is updated from the base system or whenyou want to upgrade your system (for example, from 7.0 to 7.1).Rebuilding world does not need any specific configuration and is possible by runninga few commands. However, sometimes, there could be unpredictable consequences.[ 40 ]