From owner-freebsd-questions Wed May 14 00:01:53 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id AAA06825 for questions-outgoing; Wed, 14 May 1997 00:01:53 -0700 (PDT) Received: from luke.cpl.net ([206.85.245.131]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id AAA06805 for ; Wed, 14 May 1997 00:01:50 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost (shawn@localhost) by luke.cpl.net (8.8.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id QAA11854; Tue, 13 May 1997 16:14:41 -0700 (PDT) Date: Tue, 13 May 1997 16:14:41 -0700 (PDT) From: Shawn Ramsey To: dmaddox@scsn.net cc: questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD 2.1.7 and COMPAT_43 In-Reply-To: <19970513180141.36385@cola68.scsn.net> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-questions@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk > On Wed, May 14, 1997 at 09:07:13AM +1200, jonc@pinnacle.co.nz wrote: > > On Tue, 13 May 1997, Nadav Eiron wrote: > > > > > jonc@pinnacle.co.nz wrote: > > > > > > > > Hmm, > > > > > > > > Just tried recompiling a kernel for 2.1.7, and removed the COMPAT_43 > > > > option from the list. Upon rebooting, login behaves slightly strangely: > > > > > > Why did you remove COMPAT_43? It's one of the things that's not meant to > > > be removed from the kernel config file (as the comment states). Most > > > noteably it breaks xterm. > > > > The kernel config files do *NOT* say that its a required option (in either > > GENERIC or LINT); they need updating if that's the case. > > > > And as to why, just fooling around with how small a kernel I can get > > that still boots and works.. > > This raises a question that I have often wondered about: > > Why are *required* parts of the system listed in the config file > as _options_? > > I mean, if it's _required_, then it's *not* an _option_; and if it's an > option, it's not required, right? > > It seems to me that this just serves to confuse new users. Why not remove > these "required options" and include required functionality unconditionally? I think the [KEEP THIS!] sets it off(or should) that you shouldnt be removing it. Especially if you don't know what it is for in the first place.