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From: "David S. Miller" <davem@redhat.com>
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Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 20:03:33 -0700 (PDT)
To: ebiederm@xmission.com (Eric W. Biederman)
Cc: "H . J . Lu" <hjl@lucon.org>, alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk,
        linux kernel <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: PATCH: Enable IP PNP for 2.4.4-ac8
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Eric W. Biederman writes:
 > Mostly I like the situation where I can compile it in and turn it on
 > when I need it, instead of having to do thing differently if it is
 > compiled in or not.
 > 
 > ip=on is all it really takes.

This is the main reason I like the current 2.4.x behavior.

I hate config options that change how the core of the kernel
boot makes decisions.  Things like "where is root", "what is
my network address or where do I get that information" have
no reasonable default.  This is why the command line args
are there.

If you want a kernel which automatically does "foo", you have
several options already by which to do this:

1) Many platforms allow you to store a boot comand line
   in the firmware (Sparc, several MIPS, PPC, etc.)

2) Failing #1, you can add a default prefix/postfix to the
   kernel command line at build time if you wish, just add
   some simple variable to the toplevel Makefile and have
   init/main.c frob this thing onto the kernel command
   line string after initially fetching it.

Really, H. J., you are asking for a static command line feature.
That's cool, so add it :-)

Later,
David S. Miller
davem@redhat.com