LinuxLists.cc - Re: CML2 funkiness

2002-01-02 14:05:38

Subject: Re: CML2 funkiness

First off, I'd like to apologize for lack of all the
information I'd like to have, I'm at school, and
temporarily semidisconnected at home.

CML2 is definitely still not quite right for me
(2.4.17 + kpreempt-rml, latest CML2 as of 3ish days ago).

Menuconfig and friends seem okay, as far as I can tell (and
they've apparently been tested pretty well), but oldconfig
is wacky...

Basically, it seems to have random (but deterministic)
amnesia: It forgets the answers to certain questions,
apparently on write-out.

So, "mv config .config ; make mrproper ; mv config .config
; make oldconfig" does odd things to my config, but more
in-your-face, on "make oldconfig ; make oldconfig" (ad
inifinitum if you want), it will continue asking the same
questions, and never remember the answer.

I'm 99% sure the problem is on the write-out, rather than
the read in, but I'll go do some extra digging tonight.
Python isn't really my language. Yet, at least. :)

Anyway, thanks for reading. If you need more information,
let me know. I'm subscribed to the 100k digest.

--Andrew Rodland

2002-01-02 15:11:06

by David Relson

[permalink] [raw]

Subject: Re: CML2 funkiness

At 09:03 AM 1/2/02, Andrew Rodland wrote:
>First off, I'd like to apologize for lack of all the
> information I'd like to have, I'm at school, and
> temporarily semidisconnected at home.
>
>CML2 is definitely still not quite right for me
>(2.4.17 + kpreempt-rml, latest CML2 as of 3ish days ago).
>
>Menuconfig and friends seem okay, as far as I can tell (and
> they've apparently been tested pretty well), but oldconfig
> is wacky...
>
>So, "mv config .config ; make mrproper ; mv config .config
> ; make oldconfig" does odd things to my config, but more
> in-your-face, on "make oldconfig ; make oldconfig" (ad
> inifinitum if you want), it will continue asking the same
> questions, and never remember the answer.

Andrew,

I have just tested this, and have reproduced your problem. Using
kernel-2.4.16 and cml2-1.2.20, i.e. my current kernel and the latest CML2,
I ran "make oldconfig" three times. The first time I answered "n" to 21
queries. The second and third times, I had to answer "n" to 9
queries. The 9 all appeared in the first run and were exactly the same in
the second and third runs.

Here're the 9 queries from runs 2 and 3:
EXPERT: Prompt for expert choices (those with no help attached)
(EXPERIMENTAL) [ ] (NEW)?:
DEVELOPMENT: Configure a development or 2.5 kernel? (EXPERIMENTAL) [ ] (NEW)?:
CD_NO_IDESCSI: Support CD-ROM drives that are not SCSI or IDE/ATAPI [ ]
(NEW)?:
IP_ADVANCED_ROUTER: Advanced router [ ] (NEW)?:
NET_VENDOR_SMC: Western Digital/SMC cards [ ] (NEW)?:
NET_VENDOR_RACAL: Racal-Interlan (Micom) NI cards [ ] (NEW)?:
NET_POCKET: Pocket and portable adapters [ ] (NEW)?:
HAMRADIO: Amateur Radio support [ ] (NEW)?:
FBCON_FONTS: Select other compiled-in fonts [ ] (NEW)?:

From past testing of CML2 I know it uses file config.out as its
"memory". Looking in it, I didn't see any CONFIG symbols for these symbols.

There's definitely something here for Eric to fix!

David

2002-01-03 00:28:07

by Andrew Rodland

[permalink] [raw]

Subject: Re: CML2 funkiness

Actually, I had 1.9.16, but it looks like the same problem
(and it seems like it's been around for a bit).
I'm definitely seeing the same thing as David, except the
symbols I'm seeing are:

DANGEROUS: Prompt for features that can trash data.
(DANGEROUS) [ ] (NEW)?:
DEVELOPMENT: Configure a development or 2.5 kernel?
(EXPERIMENTAL) [ ] (NEW)?:
ISA_CARDS: Support for ISA-bus cards. [Y] (NEW)?:

On Wed, 02 Jan 2002 10:10:42 -0500
David Relson <[email protected]> wrote:
> At 09:03 AM 1/2/02, Andrew Rodland wrote:
> >First off, I'd like to apologize for lack of all the
> > information I'd like to have, I'm at school, and
> > temporarily semidisconnected at home.
> >
> >CML2 is definitely still not quite right for me
> >(2.4.17 + kpreempt-rml, latest CML2 as of 3ish days
> ago).
> >
> >Menuconfig and friends seem okay, as far as I can tell
> (and
> > they've apparently been tested pretty well), but
> oldconfig
> > is wacky...
> >
> >So, "mv config .config ; make mrproper ; mv config
> .config
> > ; make oldconfig" does odd things to my config, but
> more
> > in-your-face, on "make oldconfig ; make oldconfig" (ad
> > inifinitum if you want), it will continue asking the
> same
> > questions, and never remember the answer.
>
> Andrew,
>
> I have just tested this, and have reproduced your
> problem. Using kernel-2.4.16 and cml2-1.2.20, i.e. my
> current kernel and the latest CML2, I ran "make
> oldconfig" three times. The first time I answered "n"
> to 21 queries. The second and third times, I had to
> answer "n" to 9 queries. The 9 all appeared in the
> first run and were exactly the same in the second and
> third runs.
>
> Here're the 9 queries from runs 2 and 3:
> EXPERT: Prompt for expert choices (those with no help
> attached) (EXPERIMENTAL) [ ] (NEW)?:
> DEVELOPMENT: Configure a development or 2.5 kernel?
> (EXPERIMENTAL) [ ] (NEW)?:
> CD_NO_IDESCSI: Support CD-ROM drives that are not SCSI or
> IDE/ATAPI [ ] (NEW)?:
> IP_ADVANCED_ROUTER: Advanced router [ ] (NEW)?:
> NET_VENDOR_SMC: Western Digital/SMC cards [ ] (NEW)?:
> NET_VENDOR_RACAL: Racal-Interlan (Micom) NI cards [ ]
> (NEW)?:
> NET_POCKET: Pocket and portable adapters [ ] (NEW)?:
> HAMRADIO: Amateur Radio support [ ] (NEW)?:
> FBCON_FONTS: Select other compiled-in fonts [ ] (NEW)?:
>
> From past testing of CML2 I know it uses file config.out
> as its
> "memory". Looking in it, I didn't see any CONFIG symbols
> for these symbols.
>
> There's definitely something here for Eric to fix!
>
> David
>
>

2002-01-03 00:37:16

by Andrew Rodland

[permalink] [raw]

Subject: Re: CML2 funkiness

Actually, it turns out I had CML2-1.9.16, but:
It looks like I'm definitely seeing the same thing as
David, except in my case the symbols are:

DANGEROUS DEVELOPMENT ISA_CARDS CD_NO_IDESCSI
SERIAL_NONSTANDARD SCSI_PCMCIA IP_ADVANCED_ROUTER
NET_VENDOR_3COM NET_VENDOR_SMC NET_VENDOR_RACAL NET_POCKET
HAMRADIO FBCON_FONTS DONGLE
.
Not sure if it's a cause or an effect, but all of these
symbols get marked as (NEW).
Looks like it's certain fixed symbols, as most/all of
David's are in mine too.

Sorry for the lame web-mailer, and thanks
--Andrew Rodland

On Wed, 02 Jan 2002 10:10:42 -0500
David Relson <[email protected]> wrote:
> At 09:03 AM 1/2/02, Andrew Rodland wrote:
> >First off, I'd like to apologize for lack of all the
> > information I'd like to have, I'm at school, and
> > temporarily semidisconnected at home.
> >
> >CML2 is definitely still not quite right for me
> >(2.4.17 + kpreempt-rml, latest CML2 as of 3ish days
> ago).
> >
> >Menuconfig and friends seem okay, as far as I can tell
> (and
> > they've apparently been tested pretty well), but
> oldconfig
> > is wacky...
> >
> >So, "mv config .config ; make mrproper ; mv config
> .config
> > ; make oldconfig" does odd things to my config, but
> more
> > in-your-face, on "make oldconfig ; make oldconfig" (ad
> > inifinitum if you want), it will continue asking the
> same
> > questions, and never remember the answer.
>
> Andrew,
>
> I have just tested this, and have reproduced your
> problem. Using kernel-2.4.16 and cml2-1.2.20, i.e. my
> current kernel and the latest CML2, I ran "make
> oldconfig" three times. The first time I answered "n"
> to 21 queries. The second and third times, I had to
> answer "n" to 9 queries. The 9 all appeared in the
> first run and were exactly the same in the second and
> third runs.
>
> Here're the 9 queries from runs 2 and 3:
> EXPERT: Prompt for expert choices (those with no help
> attached) (EXPERIMENTAL) [ ] (NEW)?:
> DEVELOPMENT: Configure a development or 2.5 kernel?
> (EXPERIMENTAL) [ ] (NEW)?:
> CD_NO_IDESCSI: Support CD-ROM drives that are not SCSI or
> IDE/ATAPI [ ] (NEW)?:
> IP_ADVANCED_ROUTER: Advanced router [ ] (NEW)?:
> NET_VENDOR_SMC: Western Digital/SMC cards [ ] (NEW)?:
> NET_VENDOR_RACAL: Racal-Interlan (Micom) NI cards [ ]
> (NEW)?:
> NET_POCKET: Pocket and portable adapters [ ] (NEW)?:
> HAMRADIO: Amateur Radio support [ ] (NEW)?:
> FBCON_FONTS: Select other compiled-in fonts [ ] (NEW)?:
>
> From past testing of CML2 I know it uses file config.out
> as its
> "memory". Looking in it, I didn't see any CONFIG symbols
> for these symbols.
>
> There's definitely something here for Eric to fix!
>
> David
>
>

2002-01-03 00:28:07

by Andrew Rodland

[permalink] [raw]

Subject: Re: CML2 funkiness

2002-01-03 00:28:06

by Andrew Rodland

[permalink] [raw]

Subject: Re: CML2 funkiness

2002-01-03 01:42:34

by Miles Lane

[permalink] [raw]

Subject: Re: CML2 funkiness

I am seeing other problems. Using CML2 with a 2.4.18-pre1
tree, I was unable to create a kernel that would boot.
It kept crashing with messages stating that the rivafb driver
did not support 8-bit color depth. I tried tweaking my
configuration for a while, but finally reverted to CML2
and was then able to get a working kernel. I'll investigate
further and send along a diff of the working and broken
configuration files.

Another thing I notice is that when I create a configuration
using CML2, then switch to CML1 and run "make oldconfig"
using the same kernel tree, it appears there are configuration
options that never got set in the CML2 .config file.
I suppose this may simply be due to CML2 writing out the
options in a different order.

Miles

2002-01-03 02:06:17

by Andrew Rodland

[permalink] [raw]

Subject: Re: CML2 funkiness

That reminds me, I use vesafb, and I get a just plain black
screen on boot, if I use CML2 to configure the kernel. I'd
assume it's just because there are one or two FB-related
symbols that seem to be getting dropped.

On 02 Jan 2002 17:42:47 -0800
Miles Lane <[email protected]> wrote:
> I am seeing other problems. Using CML2 with a
> 2.4.18-pre1
> tree, I was unable to create a kernel that would boot.
> It kept crashing with messages stating that the rivafb
> driver
> did not support 8-bit color depth. I tried tweaking my
> configuration for a while, but finally reverted to CML2
> and was then able to get a working kernel. I'll
> investigate
> further and send along a diff of the working and broken
> configuration files.
>
> Another thing I notice is that when I create a
> configuration
> using CML2, then switch to CML1 and run "make oldconfig"
> using the same kernel tree, it appears there are
> configuration
> options that never got set in the CML2 .config file.
> I suppose this may simply be due to CML2 writing out the
> options in a different order.
>
> Miles
>

2002-01-03 09:55:25

by Eric S. Raymond

[permalink] [raw]

Subject: Re: CML2 funkiness

Miles Lane <[email protected]>:
> I am seeing other problems. Using CML2 with a 2.4.18-pre1
> tree, I was unable to create a kernel that would boot.
> It kept crashing with messages stating that the rivafb driver
> did not support 8-bit color depth. I tried tweaking my
> configuration for a while, but finally reverted to CML2
> and was then able to get a working kernel. I'll investigate
> further and send along a diff of the working and broken
> configuration files.

This sounds like a rulebase bug. That diff should pin it down.
--
<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions,
that I wish it always to be kept alive. It will often be exercised when
wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little
rebellion now and then. -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Abigail Adams, 1787