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

Eric S. Raymond
2001-05-03T16:07:43Z

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.
--
Eric S. Raymond

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