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From: "Dennis Grant" <trog@wincom.net>
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To: Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>, Adrian Bunk <bunk@fs.tum.de>,
       "Richard B. Johnson" <root@chaos.analogic.com>,
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Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 10:35:14 -0500
Subject: Re: A Kernel Configuration Tale of Woe
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> I think he missed the solution rather than missing the 
> problem 

I think I may agree with you, to a point, in that (after further reflection)
I think there's an intermediate step between the current state and the magical
world of "make partsconfig" or even "make autoconfig"

The real problem is the difficulty in mapping a given hardware configuration
to a kernel version and a subsequent kernel configuration. There's no smooth
road to get from one to the other. Paving that road solves the problem; the
only question is of degree. The "make autoconfig" case is the ideal, but we
don't necessarily need the ideal. Perfect is the enemy of good enough.

I started doing a little doodling, and I came up with a very rough sort of relationship
map. I don't present this as the ideal data model - it's a start point at best.


A "box" is composed of "devices" and "subcomponents"
A "subcomponent" is composed of "chipsets"
A "chipset" provides a set of "capabilities"
A "device" requires a  set of "capabilities"
A "chipset->capability::capablility<-device" pair defines an "interface"
An "interface" has associated with it:
   a) the kernel version where it first became availible
   b) the kernel config switches that activate it

So what is needed is some way to start at the "box" level, and given the set
of subcomponents and devices associated with it, spit out a list of a) and b)


Here's the mini-eureka I've had - that need not actually be a part of the kernel
config system, although the kernel config system might potentially make use
of it.

What would suffice would be some sort of online database, published in a highly
visible location, and crosslinked from hell and back to make it likely to be
discovered in a Google-driven troubleshooting session. Provide motherboard make
and model (a subcomponent) any expansion cards (also subcomponents) and the
make and model numbers of drives et al (devices) and then query the database
and present the report.

I'm envisioning something very much like the CDDB service. This is a little
more complex, but the concept is similar. And like the CDDB service, it could
be queried over the network by some future "make" option if somebody decided
to implement that.

Also like the CDDB service, it makes use of network effects. No one person has
to populate the _entire_ database. The association of "subcomponents" to "chipsets"
(or "devices" to "capabilities") might be done by the manufacturer, or it might
be done by the developer who actually debugged the original driver instance,
or it might even be done by someone like myself (a sufficiently clued-in sysadmin
who did it the hard way and wants to help those who will follow after him)

All that matters is that _somebody_ contribute one little portion of the mapping,
and then, given enough somebodies, the entire map assembles itself.

And if Microsoft hasn't dared attempt such a thing... well, then that would
make it an "innovation", wouldn't it? ;)

DG 
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