Re: [opensuse-kernel] Re: [RFC] Simplifying kernel configuration fordistro issues

From: Ingo Molnar
Date: Wed Jul 18 2012 - 05:13:29 EST



* david@xxxxxxx <david@xxxxxxx> wrote:

> On Wed, 18 Jul 2012, Ingo Molnar wrote:
>
> >* david@xxxxxxx <david@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> >>>Anybody who says "I want to run Fedora without SELINUX
> >>>because I do my own security development" is by *definition*
> >>>not relevant to the whole feature.
> >>
> >>Don't mistake the example for the feature. the SELINUX thing
> >>is just an example. As Alan Cox commented, taking a distro
> >>config and disabling one thing is a common troubleshooting
> >>request from kernel developers.
> >
> >It's still irrelevant:
> >
> >- if a user chooses a distro config it means that he is using
> > that distro. Disabling an essential component of the distro
> > config, even if a kernel developer asks for it, will likely
> > break that distro and is thus a dumb thing to do. (the
> > typical user will also be unlikely to be *able* to edit a
> > .config and make sure it works.)
>
> that's assuming that everything listed really is essential.

See the requirements in Linus's earlier mail:

------------->

The *two* requirements (and they're really the same theme) I
personally think we should have for this are

- I think every single "select" for these things should come
with a comment about what it is about and why the distro needs
it (to show there was some thought involved and not just a blind
"took it from the distro config")

- It should be about *minimal* settings. I'd rather have too
few things and the occasional complaint about "oh, it didn't
work because it missed XYZ" than have it grow to contain all the
options just because somebody decided to just add random things
until things worked.

<-------------

Thanks,

Ingo
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