

X86 kernel build chain - how bzImage gets created - DiabloD3
http://lists.kernelnewbies.org/pipermail/kernelnewbies/2011-November/003906.html

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sounds
Interesting, I thought bzImage contained a bzip2ed image - vmlinux.bin to (I
assume) vmlinux.bin.bz2. This shows vmlinux.bin.gz.

I really should RTFMakefile, but I'm too tired after eating lots of turkey...

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adestefan
I think the bzImage kernel image file might predate the release of bzip2. I'm
not sure where to lookup when the kernel source first built a bzImage though.

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sjs
Before it was the Big Zipped Image it was the Zipped Image, zImage or vmlinuz.
Google has results as far back as 2001 or 2002 for vmlinuz so it's safe to say
the tradition predates bzip2.

It's worth noting that Linux can in fact use bzip2 today, and the resulting
image is still typically called bzImage.

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caf
I think bzImage and bzip2 were approximately contemporaneous - I certainly
remember using bzip2 in the late 90s (it was not real fast on a P90!).

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sjs
Oh, it is older than I thought. Wikipedia says version 0.15 was released in
1996.

Either way "bz" stands for Big Zipped and is unrelated to bzip2.

