Re: [gentoo-dev] Re: Re: [gentoo-kernel] Proper distribution integration of kernel *-sources, patches and configuration.

[Tom Wijsman]

On Wed, 3 Jul 2013 22:00:19 -0400
"Walter Dnes" <waltdnes@××××××××.org> wrote:

>   Here's my user, not-a-developer, perspective.  I think that there
> should be a mechanism to enable one patch at a time.  Here's the
> rationale...

Haven't tried this myself but I believe UNIPATCH_EXCLUDE using
the /etc/portage/package.env mechanism should accomplish this.

>   Assume that there are 50 different patches available.  I may
> want/need features provided by 1 of those patches.  I probably do
> *NOT* want to enable the other 49 patches.  This is similar in
> concept to enabling one ~amd64 ebuild, versus globally enabling
> ~amd64.

We don't plan to add this amount of patches, we wouldn't be able to
maintain that number of patches; just the active / most common / ...

>   Even if I can come up with the list of the 49 patches to exclude,
> what happens when the next developer comes along with patch #51?
> Does it get applied next time I build a kernel (ouch)?

Yes, but why would this bother you? None of its code will be included
in the build unless you explicitly enable it in the menu config.

>   IANAD (I Am Not A Developer), but if I did want to apply custom
> patches, I think the right approach would be to somewhere manually
> modify UNIPATCH_LIST.  If that approach won't work, maybe a USE_EXPAND
> flag make.conf might be the way to go.  E.g. CUSTOM_PATCH="foo bar"
> would resolve to USE="custom_patch_foo custom_patch_bar"

Not sure how you would use UNIPATCH_LIST, can you give an example?

As for USE_EXPAND, we want to avoid that; it adds an extra layer of
configuration for the user as well as maintenance for the maintainer for
no good reason, this whole idea works because patches are made optional
and only affect the build if you enable them in the menu config.

Applying the experimental genpatches tarball through the experimental
USE flag is opt-in, enabling CONFIG_GENTOO_EXPERIMENTAL is opt-in and
applying individual options in the menu config is opt-in.

I don't see a reason to make individual patches opt-in; if the user
experience problems with one of them, UNIPATCH_EXCLUDE should suffice.
We can document the existence of this mechanism by documenting about it
in the experimental USE flag.

-- 
With kind regards,

Tom Wijsman (TomWij)
Gentoo Developer

E-mail address  : TomWij@g.o
GPG Public Key  : 6D34E57D
GPG Fingerprint : C165 AF18 AB4C 400B C3D2  ABF0 95B2 1FCD 6D34 E57D