Re: [PATCH 0/8][RFC] IO latency/throughput fixes

[Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>]

On Mon, 6 Apr 2009, Trenton D. Adams wrote:
>
> Okay, so a config option is a benefit in what way, for these
> particular circumstances?  If someone wants to change the behaviour of
> the kernel, for this particular case, they can just use tune2fs, no?

Basically, I have a very simple policy in my kernel life:

 - I don't touch distribution settings. I update the kernel, and NOTHING 
   else.

(Ok, I lie. I do my own git version too, but I'm really unhappy when I 
feel like I need to maintain anything else)

And I have that policy because quite frankly, if I start tuning distro 
settings, I'll

 (a) forget about them and not do it on my next machine and 
 (b) do some magic that _I_ may know how to do but nobody else does, so 
     now what I'm doing is no longer relevant for anybody else
 (c) I'm no longer helping anybody else.

So I have a few bits and pieces that I develop (mainly the kernel but also 
git etc), and I don't make site-specific changes to them even if I could. 

In other words: if I make a change that helps me, I want to make sure
that I make that option available to everybody else, because quite
frankly that's a big portion of the whole point of open source.

The whole "scratch your itch" isn't just about scratching _your_ itch, 
it's about getting it (almost by mistake) fixed for a lot of other people 
too.

			Linus