From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Thu, 3 May 2001 09:26:14 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Thu, 3 May 2001 09:26:04 -0400 Received: from pincoya.inf.utfsm.cl ([200.1.19.3]:5902 "EHLO pincoya.inf.utfsm.cl") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Thu, 3 May 2001 09:25:54 -0400 Message-Id: <200105031324.f43DOeaA030953@pincoya.inf.utfsm.cl> To: Alan Cox cc: stoffel@casc.com (John Stoffel), esr@thyrsus.com, cate@dplanet.ch, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org (CML2), kbuild-devel@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: Requirement of make oldconfig [was: Re: [kbuild-devel] Re: CML2 1.3.1, aka ...] In-Reply-To: Message from Alan Cox of "Thu, 03 May 2001 13:47:25 +0100." Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 09:24:40 -0400 From: Horst von Brand Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Alan Cox said: > In-Reply-To: <200105031232.f43CW7aA009990@pincoya.inf.utfsm.cl> from "Horst von > *** Brand" at May 03, 2001 08:32:07 AM > > > No, we're just asking you to make the CML2 parser more tolerant of old > > > and possibly broken configs. > > It is _much_ easier on everybody involved to just bail out and ask the > > user (once!) to rebuild the configuration from scratch starting from > > the defaults. > No. Every new kernel changes the constraints so every new kernel you have > to reconfigure from scratch. That also makes it very hard to be sure you got > the results right. Really? I've mostly seen symbols added, very rarely did I see constraints changed. But that might be just my narrow view on the matter... > oldconfig has a simple algorithm that works well for current cases > > Start at the top of the symbols in file order. If a symbol is new ask the > user. If a symbol is now violating a constraint it gets set according to > existing constraints if not it gets set to its old value. I understand that to mean: "If it is new and (at least somewhat) unconstrained, ask the user. If fully constrained, take that value unconditionally." This is a _very_ different case from a broken configuration as a starting point, in which constraints are violated with the values as set. Hell, I had to rebuild my .config files from scratch a few times already because of wild changes in the hardware on which the resulting kernels would have to run, its not _that_ big a deal to have to perhaps have to do it once each time a new stable kernel series starts or so. People, remember that doing certain things in software is just not worth the effort. -- Dr. Horst H. von Brand mailto:vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl Departamento de Informatica Fono: +56 32 654431 Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria +56 32 654239 Casilla 110-V, Valparaiso, Chile Fax: +56 32 797513