Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Sun, 3 Nov 2002 17:20:45 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Sun, 3 Nov 2002 17:20:45 -0500 Received: from mta06ps.bigpond.com ([144.135.25.138]:45818 "EHLO mta06ps.bigpond.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Sun, 3 Nov 2002 17:20:43 -0500 From: Brad Hards To: Dave Jones , Jeff Garzik Subject: Re: Petition against kernel configuration options madness... Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2002 09:18:01 +1100 User-Agent: KMail/1.4.5 Cc: Jos Hulzink , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Vojtech Pavlik References: <200211031809.45079.josh@stack.nl> <3DC56270.8040305@pobox.com> <20021103215920.GB733@suse.de> In-Reply-To: <20021103215920.GB733@suse.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Content-Description: clearsigned data Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200211040918.02414.bhards@bigpond.net.au> Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2888 Lines: 62 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Mon, 4 Nov 2002 08:59, Dave Jones wrote: > On Sun, Nov 03, 2002 at 12:52:48PM -0500, Jeff Garzik wrote: > > This is potentially becoming a FAQ... I ran into this too, as did > > several people in the office. People who compile custom kernels seem to > > run into this when they first jump into 2.5.x. AT Keyboard support is > > definitely buried :/ > > Documentation isn't enough. It _has_ to be made simpler. > Its obvious that this is the #1 stumbling block to a 2.5 virgin right now. > I fell over it myself when I merged it, as did Linus I believe. > It's just not obvious enough. This is a general merging issue. I personally didn't get affected (because USB only is good), but it was a big problem for 2.4.19-pre10, when HID input support became optional (so you can have HID for an embedded USB UPS server, without getting bloat). The idea of using a kernel revisioning system is good, but things change between any two kernels (2.4.19-pre9 and 2.4.19-pre10 in this case). Suggest that the kernel .config should be revisioned, and if the version doesn't match, make $BUILDTARGET (eg bzImage, vmlinux, modules, whatever) should not run. make install and make modules_install shouldn't run either. Instead, if the version differences are minor (definition TBA), then make [|x|menu|old|m]config should copy the old .config to an alternative name (eg. .config-previous) and then for each option, we should pull from .config-previous, then def-config (if no entry in .config-previous), which we'd then have as a default. and allow the user to override. Also note that this will NOT solve the problem described. When you move functionality into an existing section, which is turned off, you have to check every option. Consider the impact of creating a "make kernel boot" option three levels down in the AX.25 code. 99% of kernel builders wouidn't see it. Generally you only get this level of breakage in unstable series, so people need to rebuild their config from scratch anyway. Also, the intent of some options changes (consider those that no longer need any SCSI, because their IDE CD-RW device is now native) Fundamentally, if you don't know how to build the configuration, this is a good time to learn, even if only by trial and error. Brad - -- http://linux.conf.au. 22-25Jan2003. Perth, Aust. I'm registered. Are you? -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE9xaCaW6pHgIdAuOMRAiGlAJ9bHWOxXDameBdHyKhFQLfuImUmGgCgop2w NE66gEzpN4hNzPAoR4uMTcg= =jxzW -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/