# [Advanced] Minimal Kernel

## mrxgen

Greetings,

Long time user, 10+ years of Gentoo. I am currently attempting to perform the most minimal yet hardened kernel install possible for my laptop (ASUS Q400A) I believe that I have stripped everything that could possibly be considered bloat or a security risk. I would like to run this project past you guys to see if any gurus out there could point out any potential mistakes or fluff that I missed.

Thanks,

MRX

Download: http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=29617673055735858845

----------

## Ant P.

Hi, for future reference, you can use app-text/wgetpaste for things like this — you don't have to use "file locker" sites and it's easier for others to read.

----------

## BartNL

What you exactly need in your kernel, I don´t know. But as of today, I learned that 

```
make tinyconfig
```

will give you a very small working config. I suppose it is for 32-bit low-memory and low-storage embedded device ´s. So you have to tweak alot.

----------

## Buffoon

My favorite is make allnoconfig ...

----------

## szatox

 *Quote:*   

> . I am currently attempting to perform the most minimal yet hardened kernel install possible for my laptop (ASUS Q400A) I believe that I have stripped everything that could possibly be considered bloat or a security risk. 

 It's a cool idea, but it has one downside: such kernel would only run reasonably well on one particular hardware set. Once configured for your laptop, it would be useless for my box.

This by itself is not bad (An I'm aiming at the same goal with some of my projects), but it opposes the other part:

 *Quote:*   

> . I would like to run this project past you guys to see if any gurus out there could point out any potential mistakes or fluff that I missed. 

 . Any "gurus out there" would be running their systems on different hardware than you, which means YOUR best config and THEIR best config are two different configs.

Also, with hundreds of lines in that config file it's really hard to find things that are "missing" or "not needed". You're pretty much on your own with this for the simple reason there hardly is any common plane. You might want to read some sources (or use google) to find out how some more opaque options work.

----------

