Solution to Challenge #3 - patching the kernel code

In this challenge, I was asked to write a small patch to the kernel Makefile and modify the EXTRAVERSION field. After the modification “-eudyptula” should be added to the version string. The patch can be found at solutions/patches/linux/0001-Solution-to-challenge-3-Changed-EXTRAVERSION-variable-in-the-main-Makefile.patch In order for buildroot to apply this patch one must tell buildroot where to look for patches and this is done in the defconfig like this:

BR2_GLOBAL_PATCH_DIR="$(BR2_EXTERNAL_EUDYPTULA_PATH)/patches"

After rebuilding the kernel (so the source-code could be patched…) one can test the patch by executing:

cat /proc/version

And there he expects to see the “-eudyptula” suffix.