1. I did a fresh install of Devuan Chimeara using the netinstall.iso install image, downloaded and burned to USB thrumb drive.  This is a non-UEFI install and I installed the default Xfce4 desktop.  That all went well.
2. I did an update and then full-upgrade to the installation
3. To upgrade to the latest Linux Kernel, 5.16-rc3 I followed the guide steps above, and needed to do two changes.
    a. I copied the previous /boot/config-5.10.0-9-amd64  to  my ...src/linux/.config  and changed the CONFIG_SYSTEM_TRUSTED_KEYS="debian/certs/debian-uefi-certs.pem"  to CONFIG_SYSTEM_TRUSTED_KEYS=""   else the   make    fails
    b. I needed to install       apt install dwarves         as a prerequisit tool to get the  make  to finish successfully.  make  failed with  'pahole not installed...'
4. after a successfull   make ,  make modules_prepare,  sudo make modules_install  install     then I rebooted.

Whoot, whoot!   system booted into  Linux kernel  5.16-rc3

bkm@optiplex:/boot$ uname -a
Linux optiplex 5.16.0-rc3+ #2 SMP PREEMPT Thu Dec 2 07:11:06 PST 2021 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Each of these options provide a differnt set of interfaces to select options for a user to explore.

I typically use   make menuconfig   
so that have an easily traversed menu based interface to select, or not, certain Kernel Modules or characteristics.

I select these with some thought and then compile the kernel.
Sometimes it works out great.
Other times it does not.  In those cases I revert back to the previous kernel option and try again.....

In any case, I explore the differing options using the menuconfig, or the nconfig, or other  HELP  > TAB options.... 

Or I create my own CUSTOM .config by selecting various options using  'make menuconfig'  and then editing the .config file with a text editor.

All of those options (146?)  are available for you to explore.  They are various ways to present the various kernel interfaces and/or options... or to limit them.

Part of the fun/beauty is exploring the kernel options given what your hardware/software supports when defining what to use for the kernel, and what to leave out.... that is what 'Tuning' the kernel is all about.

To be safe, select the     make menuconfig     or the     make nconfig     options.... and then just exit out to format the .config for that  next  command =  make

I ran thru this install/config steps by installing Devuan 4.0 Chimera Alpha Desktop as the base and then installing/compiling the v5.12-rc7 linux kernel.
it worked well, yielding the below changes... please note.

> That's right, you need to install both flex and bison. But..., what's the problem installing flex?
Aitor is right, need to install FLEX to make this work.  What issue/error did you see when installing flex?  Or any of the other essentials software?

Also, the essential install list needs to include  'bc'

so updated full list of needed essential installs is -
   sudo apt-get install  libncurses5-dev build-essential  libssl-dev libelf-dev git  bison flex bc

Just so everyone is aware, the size of the linux branch is ~8 GiB

If you can't install or get the menuconfig to work then the nconfig works just fine and yields the same result.

And, after you get this working, then do try the "debhelper" deb-pkg that Untimely suggested. It's very good that it will generate a .deb (and associated) files that you can transport/copy  to another Devuan install, and just install the .deb package to update everything.

Also, yes, I'll come back on occasion when major Devuan builds change or major Linux kernel changes to run thru this with latest builds to validate it still works, or if not post updates.

cheers all.

Does anyone managed to compile a version 5.X Kernel in Devuan?

Yes, compiled linux-libre-5.9.9 some time ago:

http://packages.gnuinos.org/gnuinos/pool/main/l/linux/

That's right, you need to install both flex and bison. But..., what's the problem installing flex?

Does anyone managed to compile a version 5.X Kernel in Devuan?
I've just installed Devuan Desktop in VirtualBox. But somewhere with an Kernel Update around 4.3.X and 4.8.X the Guest Addition Tools failed to run out of the box. Even with the suggested Kernel module compilation. It seams to be not a Devuan problem because of the same issue in Ubuntu. 18.X, 20.X, Debian 20.X, Raspberry Desktop.

So I would like to try a Kernel 5.10.30 and see if it works and to have a more recent Kernel version..
I was following the instruction on the Debian page:
"4.5. Building a custom kernel from Debian kernel source" at
https://kernel-team.pages.debian.net/ke … tasks.html

Which is almost identical with the above described process. Unfortunately I struggled in configuration using nconfig with error message:
/bin/sh: 1: flex: not found. See below.

root@devuan:/usr/src/linux-5.10.30# make nconfig
 
  UPD     scripts/kconfig/nconf-cfg
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/nconf.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/nconf.gui.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/confdata.o
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/expr.o
  LEX     scripts/kconfig/lexer.lex.c
/bin/sh: 1: flex: not found
make[1]: *** [scripts/Makefile.host:9: scripts/kconfig/lexer.lex.c] Fehler 127
make: *** [Makefile:603: nconfig] Fehler 2
root@devuan:/usr/src/linux-5.10.30#

Any help is appreciated.
This is also an important step for me to learn compile Kernel and Programs, because I'm not willing to use the monstrous systemd distributions and like to contribute in development with Devuan. My be we start to continue this documentation with Major Kernel Updates.
Best regards Hans

#! /bin/bash
#
# Small script for building a new 3.x kernel on Debian and derivatives
# Written by <private>
# Version: 1.0 @ May 6, 2014
# Requires minor editing for latest stable kernel version
# The make install and mkinitramfs steps requires root permissions.
# This script is released under the GPL: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html

# Preparing your system:

# First, we'll install the build environment with some extra's to aid configuration of the new kernel

apt-get install build-essential libncurses5-dev wget tar

# To keep things tidy a new directory for the kernel is created. Remove or comment out both lines if you don't want this.
# If you comment these line out or remove them, the kernel will be downloaded and installed in the current working directory.

mkdir ~/kernel
cd ~/kernel

# Getting the source and preparing it for use:

# edit these lines to represent the latest (longterm support) stable kernel from the kernel.org team

wget -q https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/linux-3.12.18.tar.xz
tar -xvf linux-3.12.18.tar.xz
cd linux-3.12.18

# Configuring the new kernel:

# Run manually if this part fails and accept all defaults, then comment out the next line with a # in front.
# Alternatively, use "make oldconfig" but this will ask a lot of questions you'd need to answer individually.
# Provided you have installed the correct packages, you can also use the "make xconfig" tool if you're working
# in a graphical environment.

make menuconfig

# Building the kernel and putting everything in place to use:

# This is the part that does the actual work:

make && make modules && make modules_install && make install && mkinitramfs -o /boot/initrd.img-3.12.18 3.12.18

# The last portion of the above line should be edited if another kernel version is used!

# Now you need to update your bootloader to add the new kernel. Most Linux distributions now use Grub2 by default.
# If yours uses the old Grub or Lilo, comment out this line and configure/run manually.

update-grub

# After you've done that, and checked thoroughly twice, it's time to reboot into your new kernel.

exit 0

As you've noticed, this is aimed at the 3.x series kernel, I guess with minor editing this script can also be used for new 4.x and perhaps even the upcoming 5.x series kernel. Unless the tool-chain or its syntax has significantly changed since, I haven't had to build a kernel in several years, due to using a (cutting-edge) source-based distro. (Funtoo, in my case) This script was also intended as a teaching tool for those wishing to compile their own kernels but hadn't tried yet, hence the copious amounts of comments.

HTH!

[edit: I've also found an earlier, undated version of this script, dealing with a 2.6.38 kernel (that's telling! ) last modified Spring 2011...   [/edit]

Sorry but with the next line:
cp /boot/conf*  ~/src/linux/.config

I have the error: ".config is not a directory" and I must step this. After I finish all the others steps all is OK but the ~/src directory is empty. It's ok?

That error means you have more than one config* file in /boot, so the shell doesn't know which to use. You'll want to use something like:

cp /boot/config-4.9.0-7-amd64 ~/src/linux/.config

That version is the correct one for my ascii installations. You need the version that matches your current kernel, which you can see by typing:

uname -a

I have the error: ".config is not a directory" and I must step this. After I finish all the others steps all is OK but the ~/src directory is empty. It's ok?

Thanks in advance,
Mikel

great catch.

make -j 6 deb-pkg

to create a set of .deb packages to install, rather than using the make install steps. This makes it easier to copy your newly built kernel to other computers, or to uninstall it.