[gentoo-user] Re: A pared down kernel config

"Hemmann, Volker Armin" <volker.armin.hemmann@××××××××××××.de> writes:

> On Samstag, 5. Januar 2008, reader@×××××××.com wrote:
>
> you want to read this:
> http://www.kroah.com/lkn/

Thanks... I'm getting started now.

> configuring a kernel is a matter of minutes. And seconds, if you just copy
> over the old config and do 'make oldconfig'.

Yeah if you  do that... but if you want to go through and look at all the
different stuff and try to understand.... the minutes, and seconds
theory is history.

> It is not hard - the first time read all the help texts and think about them.
> That is the hardest part. Do you really need I2O? Almost nobody does. I2C?
> Yes. ...

You are clearly on a much different plain than I.
`Read all the help texts and think about them.'  If you can do that and
feel you've understood even a small portion of it, that puts you way
up the knowledge ladder compared to us lesser endowed.

Unless you mean all those places that say `if unsure just say yes'.
Or better yet those that say:
`There is no help available for this kernel option.'

Here is a good one.
 CONFIG_PARAVIRT:                                                    
  |                                                                  
  | Paravirtualization is a way of running multiple instances of     
  | Linux on the same machine, under a hypervisor.  This option      
  | changes the kernel so it can modify itself when it is run        
  | under a hypervisor, improving performance significantly.         
  | However, when run without a hypervisor the kernel is             
  | theoretically slower.  If in doubt, say N.        

Unless you are talking about the last `If in doubt...'
Then you are stuck figuring out what on earth a hypervisor is.

Or here:

  | CONFIG_HPET_TIMER:                                                 
  |                                                                    
  | This enables the use of the HPET for the kernel's internal timer.  
  | HPET is the next generation timer replacing legacy 8254s.          
  | You can safely choose Y here.  However, HPET will only be          
  | activated if the platform and the BIOS support this feature.       
  | Otherwise the 8254 will be used for timing services. 

Unless you mean `You can safely choose Y here' then you have a few
days work figuring out what any of that means.

This goes on and on through the menus..
So no.. I don't think we are dealing with minutes here.

If you mean you can get it done if you just skip all of that.... then
yes it might be minutes.

If you wanted to pare down all the junk that is in a default
config... now you are taking days even weeks to get a handle on that.

At least it would be for the `intellectually challenged' like me..

Thanks again... that looks like a good start.

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