From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Randy Dunlap Subject: on builds/randconfigs (was: [PATCH -next] thermal: depends on NET) Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2011 09:48:44 -0800 Message-ID: <4D2DE97C.2000205@oracle.com> References: <20101213163607.0b0a7c3a.sfr@canb.auug.org.au> <20101213112033.d0060e6c.randy.dunlap@oracle.com> <20110110090059.6f4d739d.randy.dunlap@oracle.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: In-Reply-To: Sender: linux-next-owner@vger.kernel.org To: Len Brown Cc: linux-acpi@vger.kernel.org, Stephen Rothwell , akpm , Zhang Rui , linux-next@vger.kernel.org, LKML , Zimny Lech List-Id: linux-acpi@vger.kernel.org On 01/11/11 21:18, Len Brown wrote: >>> --- linux-next-20101213.orig/drivers/thermal/Kconfig >>> +++ linux-next-20101213/drivers/thermal/Kconfig >>> @@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ >>> >>> menuconfig THERMAL >>> tristate "Generic Thermal sysfs driver" >>> + depends on NET > > I've added this line to the offending patch. Thank you. > While I agree that randconfig build testing > is theoretically useful, in recent memory > its results do not seem particularly relevant > to useful configs. Who defines useful? "what is good for the goose is not good for the gander" > Perhaps it would be a good idea to spend some time > making non-useful configs impossible, and thus focus > the testing where it will be of more benefit? We have a plethora of kernel configs, so yes, I'd be glad to see your efforts in that area. Here's my take on kernel builds: Ideally (randconfig) build testing wouldn't be needed and developers would: - know what kernel facilities their code uses and #include header files for all of them - know what kernel configs their code uses and make their code depend on or select the needed config symbols - actually read & review build output to look for errors and warnings in their code and not ignore them but actually fix them - use sparse to check for other warnings The current attitude of "if it builds, then it must be OK" is not good. -- ~Randy *** Remember to use Documentation/SubmitChecklist when testing your code ***