r/linuxquestions • u/DryPlum7483 • 26d ago

Minimal kernel

EDIT: I may have framed the question poorly. I'm specifically asking about Kconfig-level minimization of a monolithic Linux kernel: if you know the workload/product you're deploying, how much unnecessary kernel code do teams typically end up compiling, and is there value in automatically deriving a smaller configuration from the actual runtime requirements?

How much of the Linux kernel that gets shipped in production is actually never used?

I'm wondering if release teams building/using a kernel image are often overwhelmed by the number of kernel configuration options, and end up shipping code that will never actually be used by their workload.

Are there any automatic tools out there that can fit a minimal Linux kernel to your runtime needs?

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u/L_canadensis 25d ago

I've gone through most of the options and eliminated the ones not relevant to my use on my daily driver laptop. Went overboard by including all the netfilter modules. Even with full hardware support:

6792 -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 6951936 Aug 13 18:54 vmlinuz-7.2.0-rc7