Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1752575AbWAFWhG (ORCPT ); Fri, 6 Jan 2006 17:37:06 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1752574AbWAFWhF (ORCPT ); Fri, 6 Jan 2006 17:37:05 -0500 Received: from emailhub.stusta.mhn.de ([141.84.69.5]:24591 "HELO mailout.stusta.mhn.de") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id S1752569AbWAFWhD (ORCPT ); Fri, 6 Jan 2006 17:37:03 -0500 Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2006 23:37:02 +0100 From: Adrian Bunk To: David Lang Cc: Jesper Juhl , Andrew Morton , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [2.6 patch] don't allow users to set CONFIG_BROKEN=y Message-ID: <20060106223702.GA3774@stusta.de> References: <20060106173547.GR12131@stusta.de> <9a8748490601060949g4765a4dcrfab4adab4224b5ad@mail.gmail.com> <20060106180626.GV12131@stusta.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.11 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2595 Lines: 69 On Fri, Jan 06, 2006 at 01:11:17PM -0800, David Lang wrote: > On Fri, 6 Jan 2006, Adrian Bunk wrote: >... > >>- Being able to easily enable it in menuconfig, then browse through > >>the menus to look for something matching your hardware is nice, even > >>if that something is marked BROKEN at least you've then found a place > >>to start working on. A lot simpler than digging through directories. > > > >Our menus are mostly made for _users_. > > true, but do you really want to raise the barrier for users to test > things? or do you intend to have a bunch of patches that remove BROKEN for > a config option so that people can test them during the -rc and then add > it back for them all before a real release? If an option is untested it's EXPERIMENTAL. If it's broken it's BROKEN. If an option is marked as BROKEN but works fine for you please send a bug report. > >The more common are users accidentially enabling CONFIG_BROKEN and then > >wondering why a driver isn't compiling or working. > > > >And in my experience, when searching whether hardware might be supported > >a grep through the kernel sources brings you more than reading often > >outdated Kconfig help texts. Besides this, a BROKEN driver usually has > >the same value for the user as a non-existing driver. > > it depends on how broken something really is, in some cases you are > correct, in others you aren't. It's so broken that a devloper said EXPERIMENTAL is not enough, users should really not see it. Often the developer additionall added an #error to the driver. >... > >If you know the driver is marked as BROKEN and if you want to use it > >despite this, editing the Kconfig file is trivial. > > > >Unless you _really_ know what you are doing, no driver for your hard > >disk is better than a broken driver. > > for your hard drive you are probably right, but does this always apply for > your network card? or your sound card? >... It might be marked as BROKEN because it crashes the kernel. But well, the common case is that the code marked as BROKEN simply doesn't compile. > David Lang 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 - 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/