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On 7/17/07, Albert Hopkins <marduk@g.o> wrote: |
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> |
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> On Tue, 2007-07-17 at 14:24 -0500, Billy Wayne McCann wrote: |
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> > My purpose for pasting this into this discussion is three-fold: to |
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> > show |
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> > why I said what I did, to hopefully dispel the notion that I merely |
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> > made |
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> > this all up, and to discuss the relevance of the pasted text itself. |
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> > |
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> > I apologize for being off-topic and hope that Mick finds himself a |
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> > working kernel config soon. :) |
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> |
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> I hope he does as well. |
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> |
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> Completely on a tangent from the OP, but I would like to argue *for* the |
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> use of oldconfig when upgrading kernels. I read the relevant part of the |
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> document and I'm not going to contest it, it does not seem to indicate |
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> that "oldconfig" when upgrading kernels doesn't work, but that |
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> "oldconfig" might somehow confuse the user into not selecting a kernel |
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> option that they need. OTOH if said person is using an "old config" |
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> that worked then most, if not all, of the "needed" options are already |
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> selected. But what are the alternatives? The document does not cite |
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> any. I can think of four choices: |
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> |
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> 1. "make menuconfig" and create a new .config from scratch. From |
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> my own personal experience I know I'm *much* more likely to |
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> forget a needed kernel option starting from scratch than from an |
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> old config. |
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> 2. Copy old .config and "make". In this case you miss any new |
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> kernel options. |
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> 3. copy old .config and "make menuconfig". In this case you're |
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> much more likely to miss the *new* kernel options because they |
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> don't stand out from the old ones. |
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> 4. Copy old .config and "make oldconfig". Here you get prompted |
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> for any new kernel options, plus you keep all your old ones when |
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> feasible. |
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> |
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> Or, if you're lucky enough to be using Gentoo, you could run genkernel. |
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> However browsing the genkernel sources it seems to do 2, 3 or 4 |
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> depending on what options it is given. 2 seems relevant only if you want |
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> to upgrade your kernel but not take advantage of any new features. 3 is |
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> prone to overlooking the aforementioned features. So that leaves 1 |
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> which is ridiculous and 4 which just about every other document found on |
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> the net about upgrading kernels recommends, including the Greg |
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> Kroah-Hartman's _Linux Kernel in a Nutshell_ (Greg being both a Kernel |
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> and Gentoo developer). |
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> |
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> I think that in general, and when used correctly, oldconfig is in fact a |
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> very useful tool when performing kernel upgrades, but of course YMMV. |
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> |
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> |
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> -- |
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> Albert W. Hopkins |
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> |
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> -- |
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> gentoo-user@g.o mailing list |
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> |
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> |
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Albert, |
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|
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Thanks for taking the time to put these thoughts together. I think I |
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understand better now. Much appreciated. |
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|
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|
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Billy Wayne |
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|
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-- |
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#end_transmission# |
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#earth_creature# |
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