The new Linux kernel 3.7.9 has been released last week. Here is how I compiled it in my Ubuntu laptop.
1) Install the prerequisites.
jchen@JC:~$ sudo apt-get install git-core libncurses5 libncurses5-dev libelf-dev asciidoc binutils-dev linux-source libncurses5 libncurses5-dev fakeroot build-essential crash kexec-tools makedumpfile kernel-wedge kernel-package
2) Check the current kernel version.
jchen@JC:~$ uname -r
3.5.0-25-generic
3) Download the kernel 3.7.9
jchen@JC:~/Downloads$ wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.7.9.tar.bz2
4) Extract the kernel package
jchen@JC:~/Downloads$ sudo tar -xvjf linux-3.7.9.tar.bz2 -C /usr/src
5) Configure the kernel
jchen@JC:/usr/src/linux-3.7.9$ sudo make menuconfig
or use the current kernel configuration file as a base
jchen@JC:/usr/src/linux-3.7.9$ sudo cp -vi /boot/config-`uname -r` .config
`/boot/config-3.5.0-25-generic' -> `.config'
jchen@JC:/usr/src/linux-3.7.9$ sudo make oldconfig
6) Compile kernel modules
jchen@JC:/usr/src/linux-3.7.9$ sudo make modules
or use the following command to only compile the modules that available in the current system.
jchen@JC:/usr/src/linux-3.7.9$ sudo make localmodconfig
7) Compile the kernel
jchen@JC:/usr/src/linux-3.7.9$ sudo make
8) Install the kernel modules
jchen@JC:/usr/src/linux-3.7.9$ sudo make modules_install
9) Confirm the following files can be found in the /boot directory
jchen@JC:/boot$ ls -alh *3.7.9*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 106K Feb 27 11:13 config-3.7.9
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 19M Feb 27 11:14 initrd.img-3.7.9
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2.3M Feb 27 11:13 System.map-3.7.9
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5.0M Feb 27 11:13 vmlinuz-3.7.9
10) Confirm the grub.cfg file has been updated, if not run ‘sudo update-grub’
jchen@JC:/boot/grub$ less grub.cfg
11) Reboot and check the new running kernel version
jchen@JC:~$ uname -r
3.7.9
12) (Optional) If you are not happy with the new compiled kernel, you can remove it in this way:
jchen@JC:/lib/modules$ sudo rm -rf 3.7.9
jchen@JC:/boot$ sudo rm -rf *.3.7.9*
jchen@JC:/boot$ sudo update-grub
Jackie Chen's IT Workshop 