Hi! Here are my notes on how to compile the latest version of the Linux kernel, at this moment version 5.1.16, on Debian 10 ‘Buster’, from source code. Remember to change versions and/or paths to match your preferences if necessary.
## Download the source code and pgp signature from https://www.kernel.org/
## to a directory of your choice
mkdir -p /usr/src/
cd /usr/src/
wget https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.1.16.tar.xz
wget https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/linux-5.1.16.tar.sign
## Uncompress the source code and check the signature
xz -d -v linux-5.1.16.tar.xz
gpg --verify linux-5.1.16.tar.sign
## Untar the source code and cd into the directory
tar xf linux-5.1.16.tar
cd linux-5.1.16/
## Copy over actual kernel config file and run 'make menuconfig'
cp -v /boot/config-$(uname -r) .config
## Install necessary packages
apt-get install build-essential libncurses-dev bison flex libssl-dev libelf-dev bc
make menuconfig
## Go to Cryptographic API ---> Certificates for signature checking --->
## and leave 'File name or PKCS#11 URI of module signing key' and
## 'Additional X.509 keys for default system keyring' blank if not
## already blank
## Compile using make or make -j n where n is the number of processors to use
#make
make -j 4
## Install kernel modules
make modules_install
## Optimize and compile new kernel
cd /lib/modules/5.1.16/
find . -name *.ko -exec strip --strip-unneeded {} +
cd /usr/src/linux-5.1.16/
make install
## Done
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