Re: very strange dependencies on CONFIG_EXPERT=n in kernel 3.8

[Josh Triplett <josh@joshtriplett.org>]

On Sun, Mar 10, 2013 at 04:14:27PM +0100, Konrad Vrba wrote:
> Dear list,
> I have noticed that CONFIG_EXPERT=n makes the following options in the
> kernel required (unremovable):
> 
> CONFIG_FW_LOADER=y
> CONFIG_EXTRA_FIRMWARE=""
> CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2_ALPS=y
> CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2_LOGIPS2PP=y
> CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2_SYNAPTICS=y
> CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2_LIFEBOOK=y
> CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2_TRACKPOINT=y
> CONFIG_VGA_ARB=y
> CONFIG_VGA_ARB_MAX_GPUS=16
> CONFIG_I8253_LOCK=y
> CONFIG_DEBUG_MEMORY_INIT=y
> CONFIG_PCSPKR_PLATFORM=y
> 
> If I select CONFIG_EXPERT=y then I can remove those, but that creates
> a new problem by making CONFIG_DEBUG_KERNEL=y unremovable.
> 
> To make a specific example, this makes it impossible to compile a kernel with
> CONFIG_FW_LOADER=n
> CONFIG_DEBUG_KERNEL=n
> at the same time

CONFIG_DEBUG_KERNEL, like CONFIG_EXPERT, should not directly affect the
code included in the kernel; it should just avoid asking about a pile of
other debugging options.  In practice, a small amount of
architecture-specific code (for powerpc, parisc, and blackfin) did use
it as a generic debug option, but that needs fixing.  So, for now, turn
on CONFIG_EXPERT and live with having CONFIG_DEBUG_KERNEL turned on.

That aside, several of the above options should not depend on EXPERT;
why would PCSPKR_PLATFORM or DEBUG_MEMORY_INIT need to depend on EXPERT?

- Josh Triplett