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    SubjectA bit of kconfig rewrite (Re: [PATCH] 9p: fix compile error if !CONFIG_SYSCTL)
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    * Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:12:51 -0600

    > On Thursday 27 September 2007, Nick Piggin wrote:
    >> On Saturday 29 September 2007 00:34, Linus Torvalds wrote:
    >> > On Fri, 28 Sep 2007, Nick Piggin wrote:
    >> > > > God I hate select.
    >> > >
    >> > > IMO a better implementation would result in a notification /
    > confirmation
    >> > > of turning on new items, and the ability to deselect options which will
    >> > > also confirm to deselect dependants. Like most other systems that have
    >> > > similar problem to solve.
    >> >
    >> > Actually, the *really* nice thing to do would be to just add the reason
    >> > something got enabled into the ".config" file.
    []
    >> > CONFIG_ACPI=y # selected by X86_64_ACPI_NUMA
    >> > CONFIG_ACPI_PROCFS=y # user choice
    >> > ...
    []
    >> Sure, that would probably be pretty trivial to implement too, and
    >> would solve most problems for kernel devs.
    >>
    >> At a level up from that, I think ease of use could be improved with
    >> a package manager-type chained-selection/deselection feature in
    >> the config tools.
    >>
    >> Not that I'm volunteering to implement either ;)
    >>
    >> >
    >> > That way, there's always a fairly straightforward way to see why some
    >> > configuration is the way it is (and the .config file is not only useful
    >> > for "make oldconfig", it's also what normally gets passed around for bug
    >> > reports, and is part of distro kernel packages etc, so it would seem to be
    >> > the right place, no?)
    >> >
    >> > Linus
    []
    > Adding the comments to the .config files sounds like a good project for a
    > comparative newbie. By the end of next week I should have hardware available
    > for experimental kernel builds. (And also some free wetware cycles.)
    >
    > Are there any other requirements for formatting I should consider?

    No. Not another semi-newbie and/or semi-halfway done job, please.

    I'm pretty sure, that Linus is proposing that only after manual
    editing of/looking into the `.config' after `make oldconfig`.

    Before you will consider anything, please, check recent LKML (kbuild
    rewrite) and kbuild-devel(years 2001-2002) archives (assuming, you have
    experience with any build/conf things).

    Today's kconfig was proposed and accepted in a very unpleasant
    circumstances, has very poor design, development and no working
    alternative (for 5+ years now).

    The basics, i'm trying to put into design of the new kconfig, as part of
    my kbuild (already described a bit)/kconfig rewrite are:

    * flexible configuration development(kdevs) and process(kusers)

    + shell-like[0] (not like CML1, which is just shell) scripting, allowing
    to extend easily (if there is no one available) capabilities,
    config values or actions for particular sub-system or compilation
    unit,

    [0] if somebody would like to see *a* shell-like scripting:
    ftp://flower.upol.cz/geloiwa/src/usr/local/etc/geloiwa/iwant

    + duplex travelling, multi- looking at/changing of config items,

    + flexible, yet built-able, connections in dependency chain (tree,
    graph, whatever);

    * resulting config file capable of producing exact config results of the
    build on any other setup
    (e.g. no ARCH=, CROSS_*, *_FLAGS *kbuild* things);

    * checking tool for particular config patterns (for bug reports)

    * system itself must be done with minimum requirements for C libraries
    (no ncurses) and tools (no `perl`, no `python`, no `make`).

    > In a case where option A is specified by option B which is specified by option
    > C which is specified by option D, should the comment on A mention B, or D or
    > all three items in the chain?

    Fsck it. All must be done by a machine with maximum comfort of users (not
    particularly humans), even for those, who like to edit config like so:

    `sed -i 's/SYSFS=y/SYSFS="please, NO!!!"/' .config`

    --
    -o--=O`C
    #oo'L O
    <___=E M
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