1. Take the kernel source from the add-on cd (filename is linux-20061110.tar.bz2)
   [Mike Acton] Download the PS3 Source Add-On CD [qj.net].
   [Mike Acton] A more recent (2.6.21 as of this update) kernel and sources can be found the more recent Add-on disc package (CELL-Linux-CL_20070516-ADDON) which can be found in various Linux mirrors:
   

   • http://ftp.uk.linux.org/pub/linux/Sony-PS3/
   • http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/
   • http://ftp.riken.go.jp/pub/Linux/kernel/people/geoff/cell/
2. unpack it in the /usr/src directory
3. make a link:

   	$ ln -s /usr/src/linux-20061110 /usr/src/linux
   

   [Mike Acton] For Linux 2.6.21:
   

   	$ ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.21-20070425 /usr/src/linux
   

4. prepare for kernel configuration:
   [Mike Acton] For Linux 2.6.21:
   To build a more recent kernel you will need to install a few things first:

   1. AsciiDoc. Download: asciidoc-8.2.1.tar.gz [methods.co.nz]

   $ cd /usr/src
   $ tar xzvf asciidoc.tar.gz
   $ cd asciidoc-8.2.1
   $ ./install.sh
   

   2. xmlto. Download: xmlto-0.0.18.tar.bz2 [cyberelk.net]

   $ cd /usr/src
   $ tar xjvf xmlto-0.0.18.tar.bz2
   $ cd xmlto-0.0.18
   $ ./configure
   $ make
   $ make install 
   

   3. git, a revision control system. Download: git 1.5.2 [kernel.org]

      $ cd /usr/src
      $ tar xzvf git-1.5.2.tar.gz
      $ cd git-1.5.2
      $ make prefix=/usr all doc
      $ make prefix=/usr install install-doc 
      

   4. dtc (Device Tree Compiler) NOTE: To build the kernel, you need a version newer than the dtc-20060419.tar.gz version available on the dtc web page.

      $ cd /usr/src
      $ git clone git://www.jdl.com/software/dtc.git 
      $ cd dtc
      $ make
      $ make install
      
      

5. [Mike Acton] mrproper should be done before make to clean any older build data, if you have them.

   $ make mrproper
   

6. copy the kernel config file that comes with the fedora installation into /usr/src/linux

   $ cp /boot/config-2.6.16 /usr/src/linux/.config
   

   [Mike Acton] On YellowDog Linux, this file is /boot/config-2.6.16-20061110.ydl.1ps3
   [Mike Acton] For Linux 2.6.21:
   The config file has been updated significantly since the original 2.6.16 release. It's much easier to start with the file included in the kernel distribution.

   $ cd /usr/src/linux
   $ cp arch/powerpc/configs/ps3_defconfig .config
   

7. This next step goes through the old configuration file and prompts the user whenever a new kernel option that is not present in the old kernel is encountered (none in this case since the old and the new kernels are exactly the same version)

   $ make oldconfig
   

   [Mike Acton] For Linux 2.6.21: There's no need for this step if you copied the file from the kernel distribution itself.
8. enable huge TLB pages in the kernel configuration

   $ make menuconfig
   

   Now go to File systems --> Pseudo filesystems and enable huge TLB pages by pressing the space bar on the "HugeTLB file system support" option. Now select "exit" repeatedly and answer "yes" when asked to save the new kernel configuration
9. compile kernel and modules and install modules (it will take around 20 minutes):

   $ make all
   $ make modules_install
   

$ cp /usr/src/linux/vmlinux /boot/vmlinux-2.6.16_HTLB

$ mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.6.16_HTLB.img 2.6.16

$ ls /lib/modules
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Mar 22 05:57 2.6.16
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Jan 19 06:06 2.6.16-20061110.ydl.1ps3
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jul 15 08:24 2.6.20
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Jul 17 06:22 2.6.21-rc7

$ mkinitrd /boot/initrd-2.6.21_HTLB.img 2.6.21-rc7

$ vim /etc/kboot.conf

linux_htlb='/boot/vmlinux-2.6.16_HTLB initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.16_HTLB.img'
[Mike Acton] For YellowDog Linux, use:
ydl_htlb      ='/dev/sda1:/vmlinux-2.6.16_HTLB initrd=/dev/sda1:/initrd-2.6.16_HTLB.img \
root=/dev/sda2 init=/sbin/init video=ps3fb:mode:3 rhgb'
ydl480i_htlb  ='/dev/sda1:/vmlinux-2.6.16_HTLB initrd=/dev/sda1:/initrd-2.6.16_HTLB.img \
root=/dev/sda2 init=/sbin/init video=ps3fb:mode:1 rhgb'
ydl1080i_htlb ='/dev/sda1:/vmlinux-2.6.16_HTLB initrd=/dev/sda1:/initrd-2.6.16_HTLB.img \
root=/dev/sda2 init=/sbin/init video=ps3fb:mode:4 rhgb'
ydltext_htlb  ='/dev/sda1:/vmlinux-2.6.16_HTLB initrd=/dev/sda1:/initrd-2.6.16_HTLB.img \
root=/dev/sda2 init=/sbin/init 3'

default=linux_htlb
[Mike Acton] For YellowDog Linux, use one of the modes above.

1. OPTION 1:

   $ vim /etc/rc.local
   

   add the following lines:

   mkdir -p /huge
   echo 20 > /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages
   mount -t hugetlbfs nodev /huge
   chown root:root /huge
   chmod 755 /huge
   

   be sure to change the "chown" line according to your system settings.
2. OPTION 2: create a /etc/init.d/htlb script with the following content:
   
   All the commands added to the rc.local file in the previous step are executed at the end of the boot sequence. This means that the huge TLB pages allocation is performed when lots of the system memory has been already allocated by other processes. This results in the allocation of 6 or 7 pages. In order to obtain few pages more (8 or 9) we have to move the huge TLB pages allocation earlier in the boot sequence (i.e. at runlevel-1)
   
   
   [Mike Acton] chkconfig required some additional settings not in the previous version of this script. Modified version is here:

   	#!/bin/sh
   	#
   	# htlb:	Start/stop huge TLB pages allocation
   	#
           # [Mike Acton] The runlevel and priority settings for chkconfig are stolen straight out of cpuspeed.
           
           # chkconfig: 12345 06 99
           # description: Start/stop huge TLB pages allocation
   
   	. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
   
   	start()
   	{
   	    mkdir -p /huge
   	    echo 20 > /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages
   	    mount -t hugetlbfs nodev /huge
   	    chown root:root /huge
   	    chmod 775 /huge
           }
   
   	stop()
   	{
   	    echo 0 > /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages
   	}
   	
   	case "$1" in
   	  start)
   		start
   		;;
   	  stop)
   		stop
   		;;
   	  restart|reload)
   	        stop
   	        start
   	        ;;
   	  *)
   	        echo $"Usage: $0 {start|stop|status|restart|reload}"
   	        exit 1
   		;;
   	esac
   	
   	exit 0
   

   Make the new service executable:

   $ chmod a+x /etc/init.d/htlb
   

   Add the service to runlevel-1:

   $ /sbin/chkconfig --add htlb