Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1752567Ab0GSFVT (ORCPT ); Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:21:19 -0400 Received: from mail-yx0-f174.google.com ([209.85.213.174]:41639 "EHLO mail-yx0-f174.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752229Ab0GSFVS convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:21:18 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <20100716234918.GA31060@shareable.org> References: <20100713230352.6781.18644.stgit@angua> <1279062881.4609.34.camel@c-dwalke-linux.qualcomm.com> <1279064008.4609.48.camel@c-dwalke-linux.qualcomm.com> <1279124563.21162.14.camel@c-dwalke-linux.qualcomm.com> <20100716234918.GA31060@shareable.org> From: Grant Likely Date: Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:20:57 -0600 X-Google-Sender-Auth: tYMHTCxQfW4SjeLEh0HlS8f0mKo Message-ID: Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH] Kconfig: Enable Kconfig fragments to be used for defconfig To: Jamie Lokier Cc: Daniel Walker , Nicolas Pitre , linux-kbuild@vger.kernel.org, Tony Lindgren , Benjamin Herrenschmidt , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, Linus Torvalds , Russell King , =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Uwe_Kleine=2DK=F6nig?= , linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org, linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2038 Lines: 43 On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 5:49 PM, Jamie Lokier wrote: > Daniel Walker wrote: >> > But all the rest is arbitrary and could be part of common shared >> > profiles or the like in defconfig format. >> >> I'm sure most people will want to have a config isolated to their >> specific device. That to me seems reasonable because everyone wants the >> smallest possible kernel they can get for their given device. Just to be clear (specifically for me as a maintainer) the purpose of defconfigs is not to provide the best optimized kernel configuration for each given board. defconfigs are useful as a reasonable working starting point, and to provide build coverage testing. > Indeed, but people who want the smallest possible kernel for their > specific device _in a particular use context_ tend to want: > > ?- To disable support for parts of the device they aren't using. > ? ?For example, an SoC with integrated ethernet that isn't actually > ? ?wired up on their board, or where they're using an external ethernet > ? ?chip instead for some reason. > > ?- To choose what's modular and what isn't, even for integrated > ? ?parts. ?For example to control the bootup sequence, they might > ? ?want to delay integrated USB and IDE initialisation, which is done by > ? ?making those modular and loading them after bringing up a splash > ? ?screen earlier in the boot scripts. > > So there is still a need to be able to override the drivers and > settings, but it's still incredibly useful to have defaults which > describe the SoC or board accurately. Yes. The defconfig is only a starting point. Maintaining the actual config for the shipped kernel is the job of the distribution vendor and I have zero interest in maintaining those configurations in the kernel tree. g. -- 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/