From owner-freebsd-hackers Sat Jul 13 09:03:43 1996 Return-Path: owner-hackers Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id JAA05711 for hackers-outgoing; Sat, 13 Jul 1996 09:03:43 -0700 (PDT) Received: from etinc.com ([204.141.95.6]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id JAA05701 for ; Sat, 13 Jul 1996 09:03:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: from dialup-usr11.etinc.com (dialup-usr11.etinc.com [204.141.95.132]) by etinc.com (8.6.12/8.6.9) with SMTP id MAA16924; Sat, 13 Jul 1996 12:07:37 -0400 Date: Sat, 13 Jul 1996 12:07:37 -0400 Message-Id: <199607131607.MAA16924@etinc.com> X-Sender: dennis@etinc.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Version 2.0.3 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" To: Terry Lambert From: dennis@etinc.com (Dennis) Subject: Re: Kernel Config (Was: GENERIC Kernel Debate) Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Sender: owner-hackers@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk >> [etc, etc.] >> >> at 7 bucks a meg...who cares? > >People who distribute boot floppies? This is silly. There's no reason to put a kitchen-sink kernel on a boot floppy. Having a couple of different boot floppy kernels is easy. The "generic kernel" issue is one of compatibility, content and size. > >No, wait... > >People who want to sell their sync serial cards which require >proprietary drivers into the "I couln't build a kernel to save >my life" market. Hardly. Anyone who thinks that someone is going to be compelled to use unix simply because he doesnt have to build a kernel has his head, neck and shoulders buried in the sand. Based on our experience with LINUX loadable modules, building a FreeBSD kernel is a lot easier and requires less support than loadable modules. Unless you implement a perfectly seemless loadable module interface, they are arguably more difficult and more problematic than static kernel modules. My message was in response to your goals, which seemed to be mostly addressing the memory footprint (ie, discarding initialization code, etc). Dennis ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Emerging Technologies, Inc. http://www.etinc.com Synchronous Communications Cards and Routers For Discriminating Tastes. 56k to T1 and beyond. Frame Relay, PPP, HDLC, and X.25 for BSD/OS, FreeBSD and LINUX