Re: Requirement of make oldconfig [was: Re: [kbuild-devel] Re: CML2 1.3.1, aka ...]

["Eric S. Raymond" <esr@thyrsus.com>]

Horst von Brand <vonbrand@inf.utfsm.cl>:
>> No. Every new kernel changes the constraints so every new kernel you have
>> to reconfigure from scratch. That also makes it very hard to be sure you got
>> the results right.
> 
> Really? I've mostly seen symbols added, very rarely did I see constraints
> changed. But that might be just my narrow view on the matter...

It's mine as well.  And I have been paying careful attention to this issue.
 
> > oldconfig has a simple algorithm that works well for current cases
> > 
> > Start at the top of the symbols in file order. If a symbol is new ask the
> > user. If a symbol is now violating a constraint it gets set according to 
> > existing constraints if not it gets set to its old value.
> 
> I understand that to mean: "If it is new and (at least somewhat)
> unconstrained, ask the user.  If fully constrained, take that value
> unconditionally." This is a _very_ different case from a broken
> configuration as a starting point, in which constraints are violated with
> the values as set.

Exactly!  And in fact, my oldconfig already does what Alan prescribes.
-- 
		<a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/">Eric S. Raymond</a>

To make inexpensive guns impossible to get is to say that you're
putting a money test on getting a gun.  It's racism in its worst form.
        -- Roy Innis, president of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), 1988