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Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2019 12:50:22 +0000 From: Russell King - ARM Linux admin <linux@...linux.org.uk> To: Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@....com> Cc: linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Lucas Stach <l.stach@...gutronix.de>, Peng Hao <peng.hao2@....com.cn>, Andy Shevchenko <andy.shevchenko@...il.com>, Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org> Subject: Re: Smarter Kconfig help Hi Mark, On Wed, Mar 06, 2019 at 09:35:21AM +0000, Mark Rutland wrote: > On Tue, Mar 05, 2019 at 05:31:12PM +0000, Russell King - ARM Linux admin wrote: > > Guys, > > Hi Russell, > > > We need to be smarter when writing Kconfig help. I'm just going > > through updating my build trees with the results of 5.0 development, > > and a number of the help texts are next to useless. For example, > > > > PVPANIC - is this something that should be enabled for a host or > > guest kernel? Answer: you have to read the driver code to find out. > > When I looked at the help text: > > This driver provides support for the pvpanic device. pvpanic is > a paravirtualized device provided by QEMU; it lets a virtual machine > (guest) communicate panic events to the host. > > ... it seemed clear to me that this was for a guest, given the text says > QEMU provides the device. I guess you read that as meaning QEMU asks the > host kernel to provide the device to the guest? Yes - that's exactly where the confusion was. It could be something like a tap network device to allow a guest access to a facility on the host, or it could be something that the guest kernel uses to communicate with its host environment. > Do you have a suggestion for how to word that unambiguously? It used to be normal to include a sugestion in the help text that guided when an option should be enabled. So, adding something like: "Say Y here if you are building a kernel for a virtual machine." would make it clear. This used to be standard throughout the kernel, but it seems in recent years, this has been omitted. -- RMK's Patch system: https://www.armlinux.org.uk/developer/patches/ FTTC broadband for 0.8mile line in suburbia: sync at 12.1Mbps down 622kbps up According to speedtest.net: 11.9Mbps down 500kbps up
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