Re: [RFC PATCH] SCSI: split Kconfig menu into two

Adrian Bunk
2007-09-15T16:23:17Z

On Sat, Sep 15, 2007 at 11:44:59AM -0400, Jeff Garzik wrote:
> Stefan Richter wrote:
>> Adrian Bunk wrote:
>>> On Sat, Sep 15, 2007 at 04:11:45PM +0200, Stefan Richter wrote:
>>>> Perfect is in the eye of the beholder. You would consequently have to
>>>> add such options into all menus which contain scsi low-level providers.
>>> Kconfig is a user interface, so perfect is what is best for the
>>> kconfig users.
>> Duplicate options with different names in different menus, but which all
>> do the same, --- is this the best for users?
>
> I recognize it's a rhetorical question :) The answer is of course "no".
>
> I hope the other participants of this thread register the severe
> disinclination of the maintainers to change this stuff, as this is a
> classic case of making a mountain out of a molehill[1].
>
> For the -vast majority- of people configuring the kernel, this is not a
> problem. Kernel people are -expected- to know what they're doing,

I doubt your claim is true since the vast majority of kconfig users
are most likely not kernel developers.

@Greg:
Do you have any numbers regarding how your "Linux Kernel in a Nutshell"
is selling?
Even download numbers?

> especially when switching from one major subsystem to another.

It's not only about switching, the same problems awaits people when
configuring a kernel for their hardware the first time.

> Therefore, all this is IMO wasted effort and hot air. There are far more
> important issues to deal with.

Why don't we dump kconfig and write the .config by hand? ;-)

More seriously:
Yes, there are many other important issues in the kernel.
But not fixing kconfig UI problems doesn't fix these issues faster.

I have seen people running into problems because some required
option wasn't set - in the simplest cases things like IDE without DMA
because a help text wasn't updated when more hardware support was added
to a driver.

You might not care about the kconfig users.
But other people do.

> Jeff
>...

cu
Adrian

--

"Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed