before any configuration would be compiled, we had to do make distclean and reconfigure, or it would hang somewhere around: In file included from ksyms.c:18: /usr/src/linux-2.4/include/linux/kernel_stat.h: In function `kstat_irqs': /usr/src/linux-2.4/include/linux/kernel_stat.h:98: `smp_num_cpus' undeclared (first use in this function) also is there some inconsistence between make menuconfig and make config? I'm wondering most around the cpu specific changes arch/i386/config.in since they weren't included in first attempted config (menuconfig) but with make config they were...
You need to run 'make mrproper' first.
Given the advice, this package is still badly broken. I still cannot get the kernel to compile. But it is not all RedHat's fault. I downloaded the kernel source from www.kernel.org and had similar problems dependant on the settings I chose (like if I chose a cpu model above i586, I got the same errors). But the RedHat release takes this a step farther. I cannot get ANY configuration to compile...