I have successfully compiled and installed the latest Linux Kernel 7.0.0-1-mainline in Arch Linux 2026.04.01

April 26, 2026

Subject: I have successfully compiled and installed the latest Linux Kernel 7.0.0-1-mainline in Arch Linux 2026.04.01

Good day from Singapore,

I had started performing a fresh new installation of Arch Linux 2026.04.01 on 17 Apr 2026 Friday at 6.08 pm Singapore Time.

But I have not installed a GUI environment yet. I shall do that later. My main objective is to install the latest Linux Kernel 7.0.0-1-mainline first.

At 7.47 PM on 17 Apr 2026 Friday, I had started compiling Linux Kernel 7.0.0-1-mainline from source code using yay.

At 3.18 AM on 18 Apr 2026 Saturday, I have successfully compiled and installed Linux Kernel 7.0.0-1-mainline.

The entire Linux Kernel compilation process took 7 hours and 31 minutes.

Although my Arch Linux 2026.04.01 virtual machine has 4 CPU cores and 8 GB RAM, I made the mistake of forgetting to configure the Linux Kernel building process to use 4 CPU cores.

I am using VMware Workstation Pro 25H2 version 25.0.0.24995812.

To make the building process use 4 CPU cores, you need to edit the makepkg.conf file. This file controls how yay and makepkg handle compilation.

$ sudo nano /etc/makepkg.conf

Find the line that says MAKEFLAGS. It is usually commented out with a # at the beginning. Change it to look exactly like this:

MAKEFLAGS="-j4"

Note: Make sure to remove the # from the start of the line so the setting becomes active.

The -j4 flag tells the compiler to run 4 parallel jobs at once. Since my previous build took over 7 hours on 1 core, this setting should cut that time down to roughly 1.5 to 2 hours for future updates.

Note: Ensure you have assigned at least 8GB of RAM to your VM before using 4 cores, as each build job requires its own memory.

As I have grossly forgotten to make the above changes, in the end my Linux Kernel 7.0.0-1-mainline building process took 7 hours and 31 minutes on only 1 CPU core.

You may like to watch my YouTube videos on how I have successfully compiled and installed the latest Linux Kernel 7.0.0-1-mainline in Arch Linux 2026.04.01.

[01] YouTube video: Compiling Linux Kernel 7.0 on Arch Linux 2026.04.01

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW2s468y6hs

[02] YouTube video: Successfully compiled and installed Linux Kernel 7.0.0-1-mainline in Arch Linux 2026.04.01

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrtQTcC4rQo

I will be testing the latest Linux Kernel 7.0.0-1-mainline for stability and for any bugs. I will also be installing a GUI environment in Arch Linux 2026.04.01 soon.

Thank you.

Regards,

Mr. Turritopsis Dohrnii Teo En Ming

Extremely Democratic People's Republic of Singapore

18 Apr 2026 Saturday 9.51 am Singapore Time

REFERENCES

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[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/FA1IIIytDshMcTqkT9cRMCsmQwwbBOCdlbckFVeeVaxH8G8pWL09KUk80N9dFgPWty85s1HUuEiTgc9MeNdKeUn0oyqqf_V5WymOXA7wAD4=@protonmail.com/

[2] https://lkml.iu.edu/2604.2/03086.html

[3] https://lkml.org/lkml/2026/4/18/94

[4] https://lwn.net/ml/linux-kernel/FA1IIIytDshMcTqkT9cRMCsmQwwbBOCdlbckFVeeVaxH8G8pWL09KUk80N9dFgPWty85s1HUuEiTgc9MeNdKeUn0oyqqf_V5WymOXA7wAD4%3D%40protonmail.com/

[5] http://yhbt.net/lore/all/FA1IIIytDshMcTqkT9cRMCsmQwwbBOCdlbckFVeeVaxH8G8pWL09KUk80N9dFgPWty85s1HUuEiTgc9MeNdKeUn0oyqqf_V5WymOXA7wAD4=@protonmail.com/T/#u