Stock kernels

[Mike A. Harris]

On 19 Aug 2003, Maynard Kuona wrote:

>Is ther any chance RHL could include stock kernel rpms for the guys who
>would like to run something different, or customize it as much as
>possible.
>
>It doesn't have to be offered for installation, or it could be just the
>source rpms, from which we could then compile and make binary packages.
>redhat could also include their own spec with it so that it is less of a
>hassle to compile and install. It could just be dropped into an 'extras'
>folder where those who feel so inclined could install it from. It
>shouldn't be too much to ask IMHO.

Red Hat has a strong name in the community from providing a 
strong solid product to customers and users.  That is 
accomplished by taking many open source project's codebases and 
incorporating them into a unified and integrated distribution, 
and patching the source code of the various software packages to 
fix bugs that are found by developers, reported by users and 
customers, or via other means.  Leaving out bug fixes just for 
the sake of having a binary unpatched kernel or other software 
package is not conducive to producing the best software.

Other patches include enhancements, modifications for 
standardization efforts such as LSB, FHS, etc. and some software 
requires modifications or changes to its build procedures in 
order to compile with perhaps a different version of a library, 
than what it was developed for by the upstream author.

When you use Red Hat Linux, you are not using stock untested, 
unmodified source code built into binaries and thrown over the 
fence, rather you are using code that has been modified via 
patches for numerous good reasons, and that combines to form the 
robust end result.

People are of course always encouraged to create their own 
customized packages which may contain newer versions of the 
software than that which is part of the distribution at any given 
time, or to create packages which contain stock unmodified source 
code with no patches.

You may wish to create a repository of rpm packages which are
100% stock unmodified sources, and put them up for others to use
as well.  There may be others whom would like this also, however
it doesn't really fit directly into Red Hat Linux goals and
mission.  That doesn't mean it can't exist by volunteers willing
to contribute and maintain their own package sets though.

More than likely someone out there is interested in maintaining 
such, and I wouldn't doubt if such packages exist already for the 
kernel, or something close to it.




-- 
Mike A. Harris     ftp://people.redhat.com/mharris
OS Systems Engineer - XFree86 maintainer - Red Hat