Handbook:X86/Blocks/Kernel

For x86 architectures, verify the 64-bit kernel option is unset/deactivated (CONFIG_64BIT=N), and then select the processor family as appropriate for the system's processor(s).

The processor family can be determined by reviewing output from the following two commands:

user $cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i vendor | uniq

user $cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i 'model name' | uniq

KERNEL Unset the 64-bit kernel and select processor family

[ ] 64-bit kernel
Processor type and features  --->
    Processor family (Core 2/newer Xeon)  --->
        ( ) 486
        ( ) 586/K5/5x86/6x86/6x86MX
        ( ) Pentium-Classic
        ( ) Pentium-MMX
        ( ) Pentium-Pro
        ( ) Pentium-II/Celeron(pre-Coppermine)
        ( ) Pentium-III/Celeron(Coppermine)/Pentium-III Xeon
        ( ) Pentium M
        ( ) Pentium-4/Celeron(P4-based)/Pentium-4 M/Xeon
        ( ) K6/K6-II/K6-III
        ( ) Athlon/Duron/K7
        ( ) Opteron/Athlon64/Hammer/K8
        ( ) Crusoe
        ( ) Efficeon
        ( ) Winchip-C6
        ( ) Winchip-2/Winchip-2A/Winchip-3
        ( ) AMD Elan
        ( ) GeodeGX1
        ( ) Geode GX/LX
        ( ) CyrixIII/VIA-C3
        ( ) VIA C3-2 (Nehemiah)
        ( ) VIA C7
        (*) Core 2/newer Xeon
        ( ) Intel Atom

Compiling and installing

With the configuration now done, it is time to compile and install the kernel. Exit the configuration and start the compilation process:

root #make && make modules_install

Note
It is possible to enable parallel builds using make -j N with N being an integer number of parallel tasks that the build process is allowed to launch. This is similar to the instructions about /etc/portage/make.conf earlier, with the MAKEOPTS variable.

When the kernel has finished compiling, copy the kernel image to /boot/. This is handled by the make install command:

root #make install

This will copy the kernel image into /boot/ together with the System.map file and the kernel configuration file.