From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: josh@joshtriplett.org Subject: Re: [PATCH 08/24] net, diet: Make TCP metrics optional Date: Tue, 6 May 2014 08:57:03 -0700 Message-ID: <20140506155703.GA20391@cloud> References: <1399328773-6531-9-git-send-email-andi@firstfloor.org> <20140505.231229.136734008603421707.davem@davemloft.net> <20140506032114.GP2382@two.firstfloor.org> <20140505.232327.578134514220748085.davem@davemloft.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Cc: andi@firstfloor.org, netdev@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, tom.zanussi@linux.intel.com, ak@linux.intel.com To: David Miller Return-path: Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20140505.232327.578134514220748085.davem@davemloft.net> Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-Id: netdev.vger.kernel.org On Mon, May 05, 2014 at 11:23:27PM -0400, David Miller wrote: > From: Andi Kleen > Date: Tue, 6 May 2014 05:21:14 +0200 > > > What parts would you remove to get the foot print down for a 2MB > > single purpose machine? > > I wouldn't use Linux, end of story. > > Maybe two decades ago, but not now, those days are over. That's a self-fulfilling prophecy: if you and others assume that Linux should not run on such machines, then size regressions will continue to happen, and patches to make Linux continue running on such systems will not make it into the kernel. There are real people and products intending to use Linux on incredibly tiny embedded systems; Tom already posted about one in this thread. Personally, I'd much rather see Linux on such systems rather than some crazy embedded (often proprietary) OS, and so would many other people. A NAK isn't going to cut it, here; tiny Linux systems are going to exist, and they shouldn't have to maintain a long-term out-of-tree fork or use crazy things like LWIP. I understand that you want to reduce maintenance effort and Kconfig option proliferation; that's a very real concern. It's likely possible to address those concerns while still producing a usable minimal version of the networking stack, if you'd be willing to provide feedback and support iteration of patches like these. Would you be interested in discussing this at Kernel Summit, perhaps? Would that help to hammer out a plan for this? - Josh Triplett