All Products
Search

This Product

    Alibaba Cloud Linux:Modify and build Alibaba Cloud Linux kernel RPM packages

    Document Center

    Alibaba Cloud Linux:Modify and build Alibaba Cloud Linux kernel RPM packages

    Last Updated:Dec 30, 2025

    If you need to enable a specific feature in the Alibaba Cloud Linux kernel, or disable a default feature for performance or security reasons, you can build custom kernel RPM packages from the source code. This process ensures that your custom kernel remains compatible with the Alibaba Cloud Linux distribution. This guide explains how to modify and build Alibaba Cloud Linux kernel RPM packages in a container on an Alibaba Cloud Linux Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance.

    Prerequisites

    You need an ECS instance running Alibaba Cloud Linux. For more information, see Create an instance on the Custom Launch tab.

    • Image: Alibaba Cloud Linux 2 or Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.

    • Instance type: An instance type with 32 vCPUs or more is recommended.

      Note

      Building RPM packages is time-consuming. To speed up the process, use an instance with 32 vCPUs or more.

    Step 1: Prepare the environment

    1. Connect to your ECS instance.

      For more information, see Connect to a Linux instance using Workbench.

    2. Run the following commands to download the Docker image and enter the container.

      #Install Docker.
sudo yum install -y docker
#Pull a Docker image.
sudo docker pull <image_url>
#Start the Docker container.
sudo docker run -itd --net host --name alinux-build <image_url> bash
#Access the Docker container.
sudo docker exec -it alinux-build bash

      Replace <image_url> with the Docker image URL for your Alibaba Cloud Linux version.

      Image

      Docker image URL

      Alibaba Cloud Linux 2

      alibaba-cloud-linux-2-registry.cn-hangzhou.cr.aliyuncs.com/alinux2/alinux2

      Alibaba Cloud Linux 3

      alibaba-cloud-linux-3-registry.cn-hangzhou.cr.aliyuncs.com/alinux3/alinux3

      This example uses the Docker image for Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.

      sudo yum install -y docker
sudo docker pull alibaba-cloud-linux-3-registry.cn-hangzhou.cr.aliyuncs.com/alinux3/alinux3
sudo docker run -itd --net host --name alinux-build alibaba-cloud-linux-3-registry.cn-hangzhou.cr.aliyuncs.com/alinux3/alinux3 bash
sudo docker exec -it alinux-build bash

    Step 2: Download the source code

    Run the following commands to download and install the source RPM package.

    # Download the source code package.
yum install -y wget
wget <rpm_url>/<src.rpm_name>
# Install the source code package.
rpm -ivh <src.rpm_name>

    This example downloads the kernel-5.10.134-13.1.al8.src.rpm package for Alibaba Cloud Linux 3.

    yum install -y wget
wget https://mirrors.aliyun.com/alinux/3/plus/source/SRPMS/kernels/kernel-5.10.134-13.1.al8.src.rpm
rpm -ivh kernel-5.10.134-13.1.al8.src.rpm

    After the source package is installed, the files are saved in the /root/rpmbuild directory. To view the files, run the ls /root/rpmbuild command. The output is similar to the following:

    image

    Step 3: Modify the source code

    1. Run the following commands to install dependencies.

      yum install -y rpm-build yum-utils
yum-builddep -y <src.rpm_name>

      Replace <src.rpm_name> with the name of your source RPM package. In this example, the package name is kernel-5.10.134-13.1.al8.src.rpm. 

      yum install -y rpm-build yum-utils
yum-builddep -y kernel-5.10.134-13.1.al8.src.rpm

    2. Run the following commands to extract the source package.

      # Enter the source code directory.
cd /root/rpmbuild/SOURCES
# Decompress the source code package.
tar xf <Name of the compressed source code package>

      In this example, <source_archive_name> is linux-5.10.134-13.1.al8.tar.xz. 

      cd /root/rpmbuild/SOURCES
tar xf linux-5.10.134-13.1.al8.tar.xz

    3. Run the following command to go to the extracted directory.

      cd <Name of the decompressed source code package>

      In this example, <extracted_source_directory_name> is linux-5.10.134-13.1.al8. 

      cd linux-5.10.134-13.1.al8

    4. (Optional) Modify the configuration files.

      Modify the source code or a config file as needed. This section covers how to modify a config file.

      1. Run the following command to view and select the configuration file you want to modify. 

        ls /root/rpmbuild/SOURCES

        image

        There are four config files in the /root/rpmbuild/SOURCES directory.

        config file

        Description

        kernel-5.10.134-aarch64.config

        The configuration file of the Arm architecture and the release version.

        kernel-5.10.134-aarch64-debug.config

        The configuration file of the Arm architecture and the debug version, which can be used only for testing.

        kernel-5.10.134-x86_64.config

        The configuration file of the x86 architecture and the release version.

        kernel-5.10.134-x86_64-debug.config

        The configuration file of the x86 architecture and the debug version, which is used only for testing.

        Choose the file that matches your platform's architecture. You can also modify the configurations for both platforms.

      2. Run the following command to modify the configuration file.

        This example uses the kernel-5.10.134-x86_64.config file for the x86 architecture.

        1. Copy the configuration file to the source directory. 

          cd /root/rpmbuild/SOURCES
cp kernel-5.10.134-x86_64.config linux-5.10.134-13.1.al8/.config

        2. Go to the source directory. 

          cd linux-5.10.134-13.1.al8

        3. Apply default values for any new configuration options. 

          make olddefconfig

        4. To make changes, use make menuconfig. This command ensures that all configuration dependencies are handled correctly. 

          make menuconfig

          The menuconfig interface opens. To search for the item you want to modify, press the / key, and then make changes as needed.

          image

        5. To overwrite the original file, copy the modified configuration file. 

          cp .config ../kernel-5.10.134-x86_64.config

        6. Return to the parent directory. 

          cd ..
        Note

        You can use the same method to modify the configuration file for the Arm architecture.

    5. Run the following commands to update the version number.

      cd /root/rpmbuild/SPECS
vi kernel.spec

      Press I to enter Insert mode. When you are finished, press Esc, type :wq, and press Enter to save and exit.

      Versioning recommendations: To distinguish your build from an official version, update the version number. For example:

      • Change a major version like 5.10.134-12 to 5.10.134-12.0.1.

      • Change a minor version like 5.10.134-13.1 to 5.10.134-13.1.1.

      This example updates the version number from 5.10.134-13.1 to 5.10.134-13.1.1.

      In the file, find the %define pkgrelease %{?KREL:%{KREL}}%{?!KREL:13.1} line and update it to %define pkgrelease %{?KREL:%{KREL}}%{?!KREL:13.1.1}.1

      You can also describe your changes in the changelog section of the kernel.spec file. 2

    Step 4: Rebuild the RPM packages

    1. Run the following commands to recompress the modified source code.

      In this example, the source directory name is linux-5.10.134-13.1.al8.

      1. Go to the SOURCES directory. 

        cd /root/rpmbuild/SOURCES/

      2. Rename the source directory.

        In the previous step, the version number was updated from 5.10.134-13.1 to 5.10.134-13.1.1. Therefore, rename the source directory to linux-5.10.134-13.1.1.al8. 

        mv linux-5.10.134-13.1.al8 linux-5.10.134-13.1.1.al8

      3. Recompress the directory into a tarball. 

        tar cJf linux-5.10.134-13.1.1.al8.tar.xz linux-5.10.134-13.1.1.al8

      4. Remove the original source directory and the old tarball. 

        rm -rf linux-5.10.134-13.1.al8
rm -f linux-5.10.134-13.1.al8.tar.xz

    2. Run the following command to rebuild the source RPM package.

      cd /root
rpmbuild -bs rpmbuild/SPECS/kernel.spec

      When the command finishes, the output shows the new source RPM package's location: /root/rpmbuild/SRPMS/kernel-5.10.134-13.1.1.al8.src.rpm.

      image

    3. (Optional) Run the following command to downgrade the dwarves package.

      If your installed source RPM kernel version is 5.10.134-13.1.al8 or earlier, the build requires dwarves-1.22-1.al8 to prevent errors. 

      yum downgrade dwarves-1.22-1.al8 -y

    4. Run the following command to rebuild the RPM packages. 

      rpmbuild --rebuild /root/rpmbuild/SRPMS/<src.rpm_name>

      Replace <src.rpm_name> with the name of your modified source RPM package. In this example, the package name is kernel-5.10.134-13.1.1.al8.src.rpm. 

      rpmbuild --rebuild /root/rpmbuild/SRPMS/kernel-5.10.134-13.1.1.al8.src.rpm

      The build process is time-consuming. When the following message appears, the RPM packages have been built successfully. 1