How do you go about compiling a modified version of FreeBSD?

Question

I'm working on an assigned group project at University where we have to re-implement the TCP/IP stack to support some extra stuff (http://discolab.rutgers.edu/mtcp/), and then demonstrate it.

The thesis/design we're working from says the original researchers changed the sourcecode for FreeBSD to support the extra bits and bobs.

We've got a version of FreeBSD and have started making the changes we want, but are having trouble figuring out how to either 1) compile the entire FreeBSD sourcecode so we can test things by installing countless versions of slightly modified FreeBSD or 2) compile just our changes and somehow link that into an already compiled and working version of FreeBSD as a patch or API or something.

Any pointers would be great! Cheers, Jon

Answer 1

The FreeBSD Handbook contains a section on Building and Installing a Custom Kernel. The Handbook has very good instructions for a number of FreeBSD administration tasks.

Answer 2

Why do this over a simple load-balancing solution? The goal of TCP/IP is to handle data reliably between two machines over a network. There are other layers of abstraction that are much more capable of dealing with the problem of server congestion that won't require drastic changes to fundamental internet protocols. Don't even get me started on the trouble of routing packets of this sort on a network you don't explicitly control (over the internet, for instance).