Re: [PATCH] net/, drivers/net/ , missing EXPERIMENTAL in menus

Robert P. J. Day
2007-07-18T21:21:36Z

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Adrian Bunk wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 18, 2007 at 04:51:33PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > On Wed, 18 Jul 2007, Jeff Garzik wrote:
> >
> > > Randy Dunlap wrote:
> > > > On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 16:23:09 -0400 (EDT) Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > > > > there's no point adding all that redundant content when it can all be
> > > > > done automatically.
> > > >
> > > > I like it. Are there any kconfig patches to support this plan?
> > >
> > > Speaking specifically to adding 'EXPERIMENTAL', I distinctly
> > > remember at some point in the past the config system was smart
> > > enough to print " (EXPERIMENTAL)" if that entry depended on
> > > CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL.
> > >
> > > We should head in that direction.
> >
> > there's one point i want to re-iterate. i'd prefer to see
> > EXPERIMENTAL stop being a dependency, as in:
> >
> > depends on SNAFU && FUBAR && EXPERIMENTAL
> >
> > "EXPERIMENTAL" is not a dependency in the true sense of the word
> > -- it is more of an attribute, and i think it would far more sense
> > to see entries like:
> >
> > depends on SNAFU && FUBAR
> > maturity EXPERIMENTAL
>
> Plus some special case in the kconfig code that you can somewhere
> select the maturity levels you want to use (currently it's a normal
> option kconfig doesn't have to know anything about).

i already described that here:

http://readlist.com/lists/vger.kernel.org/linux-kernel/66/334172.html

where the top-level config would look something like:

[*] Activate maturity attributes
[*] EXPERIMENTAL
[*] DEPRECATED
[*] OBSOLETE
[*] BROKEN

whereupon you could select any combination of the attributes you want
displayed *beyond the regular ones* during the config process.

> Remind me, would there be any big advantage after such a change
> besides being able to automatically print " (EXPERIMENTAL)" at the
> end of the prompt?

defining a new Kconfig attribute means you can process it differently
from regular dependencies. and if it's added as a general feature, it
can be used for other possible attributes beyond just a maturity
level.

if you leave these maturity levels as regular dependencies, you're
going to have to brute force and manually process them, and why make
it that ugly?

rday
--
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Robert P. J. Day
Linux Consulting, Training and Annoying Kernel Pedantry
Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA

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