Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 10:00:19 -0700 From: Andrew Konstantinov <abkonstantinov@earthlink.net> To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: "Next Generation" kernel configuration? Message-ID: <20040721170019.GA88303@root.kableu.com> In-Reply-To: <20040721124345.GB99978@silverwraith.com> References: <XFMail.20040720193931.conrads@cox.net> <20040721124345.GB99978@silverwraith.com>
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--xHFwDpU9dbj6ez1V Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Wed, Jul 21, 2004 at 05:43:45AM -0700, Avleen Vig wrote: > On Tue, Jul 20, 2004 at 07:39:31PM -0500, Conrad J. Sabatier wrote: > > Just musing on an idea here: > >=20 > > I've been thinking for a while now about trying to write a tool to make > > kernel configuration easier, sort of a "make config" (as in ports) for > > the kernel, similar to what's available on some of the Linux distros. >=20 > I've read over the other posts in this thread, but I cannot say I think > this is a good idea. In fact, I think it's a very bad idea, but with > very good intentions. Here's why.. >=20 > I'm a strong proponent of user education. The FreeBSD handbook is one of > the best education tools for someone who wants to use FreeBSD, right > from beginner to more advanced levels. >=20 > A "config tool", while useful for beginners, would quickly result is > those beginners not learning about building a kernel themselves, copying > GENERIC to `hostname -s | tr "[:lower:]" "[:upper:]"`, editing it, > learning what is in LINT, remembering to look through there, etc. > This process teaches users a lot about how a BSD kernel is configured, > what options are availible, and where to look for more options. >=20 > The end result would be more people building kernels themselves, but not > knowing what is actually happening, or what more is possible. It would > mean less educated users, and I don't think that is somewhere any > organization needs to go (look at what happened to the average Microsoft > user's IQ level, after people stopped using DOS and started having > machines do the work for them). >=20 > Like I said, I think your intentions are good, but I have concerns about > the suggested solution. I think such a tool would actually influence user education in a positive w= ay. Here is a sample scenario: 1) User starts this "program" to configure the kernel 2) User sees unknown to him option 3) User decides to look it up on www.google.com 4) "That's a nice feature, although I don't really need it" 5) GOTO 1 The only suggestion I have is to make it a third party program and not buil= d it into the make procedure for the kernel. It would look like pkg_tree that's located in ports, although with a better ncurses interface. Andrew --xHFwDpU9dbj6ez1V Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (FreeBSD) iD8DBQFA/qEj5Jhyz2/cFigRAgc3AKC2Nw5cnKbaZm+boXY3yqywM5qkdQCfdm81 9/XhZq3vPnMT2uIc5q1a4Qw= =Kgno -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --xHFwDpU9dbj6ez1V--
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