What is a Kernal and why should I care?

[MonKENy]

So since I dont see any info on Kernels Like I do roms please someone explain to me?

what are the benefits and what are the inherent risks?

I am running jbsourcery 2.3LTE if that matters.

What is a Kernel? What does it do in the scheme of things? I have a small understanding of it in computers. From what I seem to gather its the framing of the house and roms are the paint, is that an accurate analogy?

 

[macpro88]

Well... there is a lot, and I mean a lot, to learn about kernels. Basically its a piece of coding that tells the hardware how to act with other hardware and with the /system/ partition which is where Android lives.

Start here: Anatomy of the Linux kernel

 

[cupfulloflol]

A very very general breakdown can be found Android A to Z: What is a kernel? | Android Central <-- there. There are tons and tons of other more indepth (and probably more technical) reads out there if you were interested (like the great read linked above).

Why should you care? Realistically, quite a few folks probably won't (at the same time quite a few don't care about custom ROMs or root for that matter). There are things that some kernels may have that others don't. Overclocking, underclocking, color changing options, fast chargining, MHL capabilities, different format and networking options, available governors/schedulers, and many other things. Some of these options, potentially can speed up your device and can save battery life. Others are just options that if you want them, there they are. What can go wrong? Tons of things. If the kernel doesn't work properly with your ROM or your device, you could see tons of problems. Apps crashing, weird issues with screen, there have been signal issues attributed to kernels, reboots, increased battery drain, increased heat production, not booting up at all, among many other things could potentially happen with flashing a kernel or changing settings within a kernel.