Re: Automatic Configuration of a Kernel

[Emmanuel Fleury <fleury@cs.aau.dk>]

Daniel Thaler wrote:
> 
> I like the idea.
> I'm a power user and of course I can do make menuconfig, but it would be
> useful when building a kernel for new hardware for example.

I agree ! When compiling for a new platform you would like to have at
least a minimal skeleton of the .config which is working for your
machine and then add stuff like NFS, netfilter, and other stuff.

Something like:

make autoconfig ---> generate a skeleton (compile and run)
make menuconfig ---> add the stuff you want (file systems, firewall, ...)

However, if the "make autoconfig" target generate nothing but a bare
minimal .config which is fitting exactly your hardware, which would
compile and run on your platform (with a stripped down network layer,
only one file system, etc). Then I would like to have this.

> Currently that involves looking at dmesg output to figure out the correct
> options; this would provide a nice base config to work with and reduce the
> amount of effort.

Yes. Especially for strange platforms where you usually end-up with a
try and error methodology... (yes, I got a Transmeta Crusoe Sony Vaio
C1-MZX once ! :)).

Regards
-- 
Emmanuel Fleury

Assistant Professor          | Office: B1-201
Computer Science Department, | Phone:  +45 96 35 72 23
Aalborg University,          | Mobile: +45 26 22 98 03
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9220 Aalborg East, Denmark   | URL: www.cs.aau.dk/~fleury