Este howto explica como compilar o kernel em Debian: http://www.howtoforge.com/kernel_compilation_debian_etch
É bastante simples; até eu me oriento. :)

o que procurava não era a simplicidade - que de facto é extremamente simples compilar um kernel com as ferramentas da debian - mas sim um documento que explicasse mais profundamente todo o processo, com todas as possibilidades :)

ora repara neste texto:

Foot note 1:
For an explanation on why this synchronization is required, consider
this. The kernel knows what version it is, as given in the kernel
Makefile as the variables VERSION, PATCHLEVEL, and SUBLEVEL. It will
look for the modules in /lib/modules/$VERSION.$PATCHLEVEL.$SUBLEVEL.
The Debian scripts think they know what the kernel version is, as
given in the Debian file rules as the variable v (near the top). It
then proceeds to put the modules in /lib/modules/$v. So, it is
essential that the kernel (Makefile) and the Debian script (rules)
agree about the version number, or the kernel will never figure out
where the Debian scripts hid the modules. So change the version
number in the file rules (v = X.X.XX) to be the same version as
given in the kernel Makefile (this will be
$VERSION.$PATCHLEVEL.$SUBLEVEL).

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