Ok, I'll admit right up front that this is probably slightly
controversial, and most certainly slightly silly as well, and my reasons
for doing this may not be the best in the world, but let me try and
explain the reasons for this patch.
What does it do? : It renames all instances of "---help---" to simply
"help" in all of the Kconfig files.
Why does it do this? : There are two reasons for doing this;
1) Consistency. out of ~4000 help entries in 134 Kconfig files, 747 of
those entries use "---help---" as the keyword, the rest use just "help".
So the users of "---help---" are clearly a minority and by renaming them
we make things consistent. - I hate inconsistency. :-)
2) By not using two different "keywords" I assume it will be posible to
speed up kbuilds handling of Kconfig files slightly. That goal is not
accomplished by this patch, but this patch is a prerequisite for making
that change later.
Now I think I can already guess some of the arguments against this;
a) this diff will clutter up the change history for those files. True, it
will, but Kconfig files see releatively few changes so this shouldn't be a
big deal.
b) This doesn't improve anything for the users of the Kconfig files. Again
true, it will not, but if it leads to a slightly faster kbuild that /will/
benefit users if only ever so slightly).
Anyway, I made the patch, if it makes sense to the powers that be, then
feel free to apply it, if not, then don't apply it and the world moves on
:) No need to make a big fuzz about it...
Since this patch is fairly huge (~250Kb) I've not included it inline, but
you can find it at
http://www.linuxtux.org/~juhl/kernel_patches/Kconfig-help-rewrite.patch
Here's the diffstat :
arch/alpha/Kconfig | 12 +--
arch/arm/Kconfig | 10 +-
arch/arm/mach-clps711x/Kconfig | 2
arch/arm/mach-footbridge/Kconfig | 2
arch/arm26/Kconfig | 2
arch/cris/arch-v10/drivers/Kconfig | 4 -
arch/h8300/Kconfig | 6 -
arch/i386/Kconfig | 30 ++++----
arch/i386/kernel/cpu/cpufreq/Kconfig | 4 -
arch/ia64/Kconfig | 2
arch/m32r/Kconfig | 4 -
arch/m68k/Kconfig | 18 ++---
arch/m68knommu/Kconfig | 8 +-
arch/mips/Kconfig | 12 +--
arch/parisc/Kconfig | 4 -
arch/ppc/Kconfig | 26 +++----
arch/ppc64/Kconfig | 6 -
arch/s390/Kconfig | 4 -
arch/sh/Kconfig | 8 +-
arch/sh/cchips/Kconfig | 4 -
arch/sparc/Kconfig | 14 ++--
arch/sparc64/Kconfig | 18 ++---
arch/um/Kconfig | 2
arch/x86_64/Kconfig | 8 +-
drivers/acpi/Kconfig | 14 ++--
drivers/atm/Kconfig | 16 ++--
drivers/base/Kconfig | 2
drivers/block/Kconfig | 24 +++---
drivers/block/paride/Kconfig | 8 +-
drivers/cdrom/Kconfig | 20 ++---
drivers/char/Kconfig | 50 +++++++-------
drivers/char/agp/Kconfig | 6 -
drivers/char/ftape/Kconfig | 18 ++---
drivers/char/tpm/Kconfig | 6 -
drivers/char/watchdog/Kconfig | 34 ++++-----
drivers/eisa/Kconfig | 8 +-
drivers/fc4/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/i2c/Kconfig | 2
drivers/ide/Kconfig | 36 +++++-----
drivers/infiniband/Kconfig | 2
drivers/infiniband/hw/mthca/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/infiniband/ulp/ipoib/Kconfig | 6 -
drivers/input/Kconfig | 12 +--
drivers/input/gameport/Kconfig | 2
drivers/input/joystick/Kconfig | 6 -
drivers/input/mouse/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/input/serio/Kconfig | 12 +--
drivers/isdn/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/isdn/hisax/Kconfig | 2
drivers/macintosh/Kconfig | 2
drivers/md/Kconfig | 28 ++++----
drivers/media/Kconfig | 2
drivers/media/dvb/Kconfig | 2
drivers/media/radio/Kconfig | 30 ++++----
drivers/media/video/Kconfig | 28 ++++----
drivers/message/fusion/Kconfig | 6 -
drivers/message/i2o/Kconfig | 2
drivers/misc/Kconfig | 2
drivers/mtd/Kconfig | 16 ++--
drivers/mtd/chips/Kconfig | 2
drivers/mtd/devices/Kconfig | 10 +-
drivers/mtd/nand/Kconfig | 2
drivers/net/Kconfig | 122 +++++++++++++++++------------------
drivers/net/appletalk/Kconfig | 2
drivers/net/arcnet/Kconfig | 8 +-
drivers/net/hamradio/Kconfig | 16 ++--
drivers/net/irda/Kconfig | 8 +-
drivers/net/pcmcia/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/net/tokenring/Kconfig | 12 +--
drivers/net/tulip/Kconfig | 14 ++--
drivers/net/wan/Kconfig | 26 +++----
drivers/net/wireless/Kconfig | 28 ++++----
drivers/net/wireless/hostap/Kconfig | 16 ++--
drivers/parport/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/pci/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/pci/hotplug/Kconfig | 2
drivers/pcmcia/Kconfig | 8 +-
drivers/pnp/Kconfig | 2
drivers/pnp/pnpacpi/Kconfig | 2
drivers/pnp/pnpbios/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/s390/Kconfig | 2
drivers/scsi/Kconfig | 92 +++++++++++++-------------
drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/Kconfig | 10 +-
drivers/serial/Kconfig | 16 ++--
drivers/telephony/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/usb/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/usb/class/Kconfig | 6 -
drivers/usb/core/Kconfig | 2
drivers/usb/host/Kconfig | 14 ++--
drivers/usb/image/Kconfig | 2
drivers/usb/input/Kconfig | 18 ++---
drivers/usb/media/Kconfig | 22 +++---
drivers/usb/misc/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/usb/misc/sisusbvga/Kconfig | 2
drivers/usb/net/Kconfig | 10 +-
drivers/usb/serial/Kconfig | 20 ++---
drivers/usb/storage/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/video/Kconfig | 50 +++++++-------
drivers/video/console/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/video/geode/Kconfig | 4 -
drivers/w1/Kconfig | 2
drivers/zorro/Kconfig | 2
fs/Kconfig | 8 +-
fs/ncpfs/Kconfig | 2
fs/nls/Kconfig | 10 +-
fs/partitions/Kconfig | 6 -
init/Kconfig | 12 +--
kernel/power/Kconfig | 8 +-
net/8021q/Kconfig | 2
net/Kconfig | 8 +-
net/appletalk/Kconfig | 2
net/atm/Kconfig | 2
net/ax25/Kconfig | 6 -
net/bridge/Kconfig | 2
net/core/Kconfig | 4 -
net/decnet/Kconfig | 4 -
net/econet/Kconfig | 2
net/ieee80211/Kconfig | 10 +-
net/ipv4/Kconfig | 24 +++---
net/ipv4/ipvs/Kconfig | 36 +++++-----
net/ipv4/netfilter/Kconfig | 12 +--
net/ipv6/Kconfig | 14 ++--
net/ipv6/netfilter/Kconfig | 2
net/ipx/Kconfig | 4 -
net/irda/Kconfig | 4 -
net/lapb/Kconfig | 2
net/packet/Kconfig | 2
net/sched/Kconfig | 50 +++++++-------
net/sctp/Kconfig | 2
net/unix/Kconfig | 2
net/wanrouter/Kconfig | 2
net/x25/Kconfig | 2
net/xfrm/Kconfig | 4 -
sound/oss/Kconfig | 24 +++---
134 files changed, 747 insertions(+), 747 deletions(-)
On Thu, Apr 21, 2005 at 12:06:11AM +0200, Jesper Juhl wrote:
>...
> Why does it do this? : There are two reasons for doing this;
> 1) Consistency. out of ~4000 help entries in 134 Kconfig files, 747 of
> those entries use "---help---" as the keyword, the rest use just "help".
> So the users of "---help---" are clearly a minority and by renaming them
> we make things consistent. - I hate inconsistency. :-)
> 2) By not using two different "keywords" I assume it will be posible to
> speed up kbuilds handling of Kconfig files slightly. That goal is not
> accomplished by this patch, but this patch is a prerequisite for making
> that change later.
>...
I'd be surprised if the second reason had a measurable effect, but I
like this patch for the first reason.
cu
Adrian
--
"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed