Kernel Development Setup

kernel-dev.md

1. Create the disk

Let's create a raw disk (you can use other tools like dd too)

qemu-img create -f raw kernel-dev.img 20G

Now install the system

qemu-system-x86_64 -drive format=raw,file=kernel-dev.img -enable-kvm -boot d -cdrom your.iso

2. Create the initrd

We will use dracut to create a custom initrd with our kenel parameters

dracut --no-compress --no-kernel --kernel-cmdline 'root=/dev/sda rw' -f initramfs.img

Qemu allows you to boot the system without a initrd but I have found it to be very hard to setup

3. Done!

Now you should be able to run it

qemu-system-x86_64 -kernel path/to/your/kernel/linux/arch/x86/boot/bzImage -drive format=raw,file=kernel-dev.img -initrd initramfs.img -enable-kvm

Some extra options to add:

• -append console=ttyS0: redirects the console to the serial port
• -m 4G: sets the RAM to use (in this case 4GB)
• -smp 2: sets the number of cores to use (in this case 2)