Re: [PATCH] LKCD for 2.5.44 (3/8): kerntypes addition

Christoph Hellwig
2002-10-23T19:09:13Z

On Wed, Oct 23, 2002 at 10:52:35AM -0700, Matt D. Robinson wrote:
> On Wed, 23 Oct 2002, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
> |>On Wed, Oct 23, 2002 at 02:44:04AM -0700, Matt D. Robinson wrote:
> |>> This adds kerntypes into the build so that symbols can be
> |>> extracted from a single build object in the kernel. This
> |>> also modifies the install process (where applicable) to
> |>> copy the Kerntypes file along with the kernel and map.
> |>
> |>Why can't you directly link in init/kerntypes.o?
>
> We wanted to keep the bloat down, even as far as the
> file size is concerned. Some people have problems with
> making the kernel image larger than it already is. If
> Kerntypes adds another 100K to the image, that isn't a
> good thing in the eyes of some people.

I meant using init/kerntypes.o directly instead of copying it
to Kerntypes. But after looking more into the build process
I've now noticed that Kerntypes isn't actually linked into
vmlinux at all. But as it's a separate file you don't need
the ifdef CONFIG_CRASH_DUMP - people not wanting on their
potentially small root filesystems just don't have to copy
it. That would be the last ifdef on CONFIG_CRASH_DUMP, so
dump.o can now be loaded into any kernel with the patch
applied. cool! :)