From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: cvs268@gmail.com (Chinmay V S)
Date: Sat, 9 Apr 2016 16:47:02 +0530
Subject: what is the purpose of "LOCALVERSION" variable in
	scripts/setlocalversion?
In-Reply-To: <alpine.LFD.2.20.1604090653240.4016@localhost.localdomain>
References: <alpine.LFD.2.20.1604090653240.4016@localhost.localdomain>
Message-ID: <CAK-9PRCeJPiW3Q7ec7eT-ckZE1O8Jv655TGya+-dn4j4SUtk2Q@mail.gmail.com>
To: kernelnewbies@lists.kernelnewbies.org
List-Id: kernelnewbies.lists.kernelnewbies.org

> i was unaware of the apparently independent variable "LOCALVERSION"
> which is used in that assignment.
>
>   there's precious little mention of that variable ... under what
> circumstances does one set it?

I have sometimes seen a "+" or a short-commit-sha appended when
building kernel in a local git repository with uncommitted/committed
changes.

Also i suppose one could run make LOCALVERSION=<unique-string-here> to
help identify a kernel image by the embedded <unique-string> if
required at a later time.

As the image name is one of the first things to be printed in the
kernel/dmesg logs, it helps map error logs to their respective builds.