title: Setup buildroot for old kernels
body: <p>I'm trying to setup buildroot for cross-compiling a custom app.</p>
  
  <pre><code>/ # uname -a
  Linux Venus 2.6.12.6-VENUS #323634 Wed May 25 13:40:36 CST 2011 mips unknown
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So far I chose kernel version <em>2.6.12.6</em> in buildroot. Now I've got the problem that the <code>make</code> command fails yelling that the rule <code>headers_install</code> is unknown.</p>
  
  <p>Here is the compleat output:</p>
  
  <pre><code>~/buildroot-2011.11$ make
  (cd /root/buildroot-2011.11/output/toolchain/linux-2.6.12.6; \
           /usr/bin/make -j2 ARCH=mips \
                  HOSTCC="/usr/bin/gcc" HOSTCFLAGS="" \
                  HOSTCXX="/usr/bin/g++" \
                  INSTALL_HDR_PATH=/root/buildroot-2011.11/output/toolchain/linux headers_install; \
          )
  make[1]: Entering directory `/root/buildroot-2011.11/output/toolchain/linux-2.6.12.6'
  Makefile:485: .config: Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
  make[1]: *** Keine Regel, um »headers_install« zu erstellen.  Schluss.
  make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/buildroot-2011.11/output/toolchain/linux-2.6.12.6'
  make: *** [/root/buildroot-2011.11/output/toolchain/linux/.configured] Fehler 2
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I think the problem is that this old kernel doesn't have this option in its makefile.</p>
  
  <p>My next try was to use the Makefile and the scripts directory of the new kernel 3.2.6 by replacing the old one.</p>
  
  <p>Here is the output:</p>
  
  <pre><code># make
  (cd /root/buildroot-2011.11/output/toolchain/linux-2.6.12.6; \
           /usr/bin/make -j2 ARCH=mips \
                  HOSTCC="/usr/bin/gcc" HOSTCFLAGS="" \
                  HOSTCXX="/usr/bin/g++" \
                  INSTALL_HDR_PATH=/root/buildroot-2011.11/output/toolchain/linux headers_install; \
          )
  make[1]: Entering directory `/root/buildroot-2011.11/output/toolchain/linux-2.6.12.6'
    CHK     include/linux/version.h
    HOSTCC  scripts/basic/fixdep
    HOSTCC  scripts/unifdef
  Makefile:1059: *** Headers not exportable for the mips architecture.  Schluss.
  make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/buildroot-2011.11/output/toolchain/linux-2.6.12.6'
  make: *** [/root/buildroot-2011.11/output/toolchain/linux/.configured] Fehler 2
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>No idea what I can try now. What should I do?</p>