Two Linux Kernel Lessons of The Day

So I learned two important things about Linux kernel compilation today:

1. On Edgy (for some kernels like 2.6.16.13, where I'm still trying to get Click running on real hardware) you have to disable gcc stack protection by adding -fno-stack-protector to CFLAGS. I actually didn't figure this out the first time but when I was getting the error trying to build GRUB2 (because GRUB sucks on MacBooks, something about the keyboard working less that 25% of the time) , I figured something was up
   
2. Never, never, never, never try to compile a kernels (well maybe 2.0 might be ok) on the modular drive bay of a Dell Latitude, where I run Linux so as to not disrupt my "Corporate Image" -- Let's just say it took about 3-4 hours on a P4-1.6 with a Gig of Ram. Yikes.
   

But the day wasn't all bad, as I discovered Ruby Dnet and more importantly and interesting blog by Brian Caswell about using DL. Of course I started this trail because Ruby is so lame and doesn't have tons of stuff like Python Netifaces for easily (and cross-platform-ily) getting address information.