Re: [PATCH 0/3] build linux-next without perl

[Rob Landley <rob@landley.net>]

On 02/27/2013 03:51:55 PM, Andrew Morton wrote:
> On Tue, 26 Feb 2013 21:57:52 -0800 (PST)
> Rob Landley <rob@landley.net> wrote:
> 
> > Before 2.6.25 building Linux never required perl. This patch series  
> removes
> > the requirement from basic kernel builds (tested on i686, x86_64,  
> arm, mips,
> > powerpc, sparc, sh4, and m68k). Now updated to 3.8-rc1.
> >
> > Note, this removes perl from the _build_ environment, not from the  
> _development_
> > environment. This is approximately the same logic behind "make  
> menuconfig"
> > requiring curses but "make oldconfig" not requiring curses.  
> Including
> > zconf.lex.c_shipped in kconfig and then requiring perl makes no  
> sense.
> >
> > ...
> >
> > Mostly people just copy the patches into their local projects (ala
> > https://github.com/rofl0r/sabotage/tree/master/KEEP ) but I'm  
> reposting
> > them to linux-kernel after Gentoo considered using these patches,  
> but didn't
> > because they weren't upstream:
> >   https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=421483
> 
> Sitting here scratching head wondering why you-need-perl is a problem
> for anyone.
> 
> That gentoo bug report provides some explanation: "perl was removed
> from @system".  But I expect other people have different reasons.
> 
> IOW, please better describe the motivation for this patchset.

P.S. A much shorter reply than mine, from David Anders:

https://plus.google.com/101339419642360856354/posts/AyRnz2REq8C

Rob