Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 15 Jan 1999 15:40:37 +0200 | From | Nimrod Zimerman <> | Subject | Re: Building .config into the kernel |
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On Thu, Jan 14, 1999 at 07:32:59PM -0500, Brandon S. Allbery KF8NH wrote:
> | Natch, YOU put it on the machine, but since then they've had a few > | system crashes, and they've tried a few things, and anyway, your kernel > | is the only one that's ever worked on their adaptec bus with the hp > | surestore that can't be terminated actively without killing the machine, > | and they'd _really_ like to know what the magic combo you used to > | compile it with is. > > In a sense, that's a counterargument: what if the magic combo was a bit of > code hackery? (Suggestions to embed the full kernel source code in the > image will be laughed out of court...!)
Ah, that's where you get the 'listing the patches' bit advantage (and yes, I think the two are pretty much related).
Obviously, people will have to be careful and actually *list* them (even if all they say is 'adaptec-magic, 97/4/2'). At least you would know this isn't the standard kernel. Knowing that, you've just saved yourself a whole afternoon of compile-reboot-test cycles.
I typically patch little bits and pieces of my kernel. Currently, the only way I can list these (without introducing yet another kernel change) is to change the version string. I used to do that manually when applying pre-patces and ac patches, for example. However, this isn't a really good solution, as changing this causes a recompilation of most of the kernel (if not all). And I'm on a 486 - it takes an hour and 15 minutes to compile a kernel from scratch.
Being able to put a file somewhere, named 'ip-masq.patch', that has the line 'ip-masq fix (adding symbol to netsyms.c) - ac4 has it broken', and having this line appear under /proc/patches - can make my life far easier. It can cost nothing to those who don't want it.
Nimrod
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