Re: [RFC] Simplifying kernel configuration for distro issues

From: Dave Jones
Date: Fri Jul 13 2012 - 17:02:55 EST


On Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 01:37:41PM -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote:

> The point I'm slowly getting to is that I would actually love to have
> *distro* Kconfig-files, where the distribution would be able to say
> "These are the minimums I *require* to work".

As long as you don't mind these being added after the fact, I suppose
it would be workable. The reason I say that is sometimes, it even catches *us*
by surprise. We recently found out our virtualisation guys started
using sch_htb for example, and we inadvertantly broke it when we moved
its module to a 'not always installed' kernel subpackage. (and before that, 9PFS..)

People don't tell us anything, but somehow expect things to keep working.

> In addition to the "minimal distro settings", we might also have a few
> "common platform" settings, so that you could basically do a "hey, I
> have a modern PC laptop, make it pick the obvious stuff that a normal
> person needs, like USB storage, FAT/VFAT support, the core power
> management etc".

I wish defconfig was actually something useful like this, instead of..
what the hell is it exactly ? No-one even seems to agree, other than
"random selection of options, many of which were removed n years ago"

Dave

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