What is "generic" kernel? Why does module-assistant work?

[Paul Johnson]

I'm new in Ubuntu, coming from RedHat/Fedora.

I encountered some weirdness after I installed the openafs client
program.  I noticed in the logs from apt that a kernel module had to
be built for that program and I followed some steps it mapped out.

module-assistant prepare openafs-modules
module-assistant auto-build openafs-modules

Seemed to work OK--plopped some deb packages into /usr/src.  It is a
bit too automagical for my taste, though.

I don't understand why it worked, and I feel a bit "out of control".
Maybe all those years of building RPMs damaged my brain.  I'm looking
to understand the debian build framework.  In RPM framework, there
would be a designated directory structure with subdirectories for the
SOURCE code, the BUILD, the SPEC (equivalent to control file & pre  &
post scripts), and results would go into RPM and SRPM.

1. Why can't the "ordinary" user build the deb?  It should not be
necessary to be root!  Fedora guys say that's bad :(
2. Why it doesn't make a source package?
3. Where can I find the control file from which the deb was manufactured?
4. Should I find a build tree and a fakeroot directory and erase them
to clean up after the build?


While Googling on that,  I found a more puzzling question.  I ran the
basic Ubuntu install.  I have linux-image-generic.  Is that right?
In Fedora, there's a kernel for i386, and one for i686, and one for
x86_64, etc.  In Ubuntu I don't see one especially for i686.

Here's one of the pages I found about it.

http://beginlinux.com/index.php/desktop_training/ubuntu/ubfile_m/ub_kernel

If the server kernel is "better" for i686, why doesn't the installer
just use it for desktop systems?  It just seems odd to me that I'm
supposed to install a kernel labeled "server" just to get the i686
optimization.

-- 
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas