linux-kernel - Re: [RFC] Simplifying kernel configuration for distro issues

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Date:	Fri, 13 Jul 2012 17:02:40 -0400
From:	Dave Jones <davej@...hat.com>
To:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc:	Greg Kroah-Hartman <greg@...ah.com>,
	Ubuntu Kernel Team <kernel-team@...ts.ubuntu.com>,
	Debian Kernel Team <debian-kernel@...ts.debian.org>,
	OpenSUSE Kernel Team <opensuse-kernel@...nsuse.org>,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Fedora Kernel Team <kernel-team@...oraproject.org>
Subject: Re: [RFC] Simplifying kernel configuration for distro issues

On Fri, Jul 13, 2012 at 01:37:41PM -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote:

 > The point I'm slowly getting to is that I would actually love to have
 > *distro* Kconfig-files, where the distribution would be able to say
 > "These are the minimums I *require* to work".

As long as you don't mind these being added after the fact, I suppose
it would be workable.  The reason I say that is sometimes, it even catches *us*
by surprise.  We recently found out our virtualisation guys started
using sch_htb for example, and we inadvertantly broke it when we moved
its module to a 'not always installed' kernel subpackage. (and before that, 9PFS..)

People don't tell us anything, but somehow expect things to keep working.

 > In addition to the "minimal distro settings", we might also have a few
 > "common platform" settings, so that you could basically do a "hey, I
 > have a modern PC laptop, make it pick the obvious stuff that a normal
 > person needs, like USB storage, FAT/VFAT support, the core power
 > management etc".

I wish defconfig was actually something useful like this, instead of..
what the hell is it exactly ? No-one even seems to agree, other than
"random selection of options, many of which were removed n years ago"

	Dave

--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/