Chapter 9 Configuring the FreeBSD Kernel

Table of Contents
9.1 Synopsis
9.2 Why Build a Custom Kernel?
9.3 Finding the System Hardware
9.4 Kernel Drivers, Subsystems, and Modules
9.5 Building and Installing a Custom Kernel
9.6 The Configuration File
9.7 If Something Goes Wrong
Updated and restructured by Jim Mock. Originally contributed by Jake Hamby.

9.1 Synopsis

The kernel is the core of the FreeBSD operating system. It is responsible for managing memory, enforcing security controls, networking, disk access, and much more. While much of FreeBSD is dynamically configurable, it is still occasionally necessary to configure and compile a custom kernel.

After reading this chapter, you will know:

All of the commands listed in the examples in this chapter should be executed as root.