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Chapter 4 Installation and calibration
Illustration 3: Linux kernel configuration: make xconfig
("Interrupt pipeline")
Note:Once the kernel and the modules have been installed it maybe necessary to run a
mkinitrd script which will create an initial ramdisk for correctly booting the machine. Failing to
generate it won't allow the system to boot.
You should also define the new kernel and it's parameters as a (new) entry inside the
configuration file of your boot loader. Again, it's important to keep the old kernel entry
available to avoid problems if something goes wrong with the new RTAI-Kernel.
Note: If you use LILO you should also run the lilo command, while if you use GRUB the entry in
the menu is enough. The LILO command may also be executed automatically according to
specific distro's settings.
4.1 Standard installation procedure
The RTAI build system is a merge of Linux's Kconfig with autoconf/automake/libtool. Therefore,
you can either build RTAI:
4.1.1 Interactive configuration
The interactive configuration is the preferred and easier way to configure RTAI especially for a
first time user. All the options are browsable, selectable and well documented. To run the
interactive configuration you have to:
1) Into the source tree like with 3.x (your_source_dir == your_build_dir). Just run either:
$ make xconfig # (Qt-based)
$ make gconfig # (GTK-based)
$ make menuconfig (dialog-based)
RTAI User Manual 3.4 – October 2006 – rev 0.3 - pag 7