Re; 4KSTACKS again.

[Chris Adams]

Once upon a time, Ben Steeves <bcs at metacon.ca> said:
> I could accept RedHat incorporating options into the mainline early if
> they were internally testing kernels with and without the option enabled
> as another poster suggested they may do.  If they do, I question why
> they would bother, if they know the option is going to mainlined
> anyway.  I just question the wisdom of jumping the gun.

As I said, the schedule of the FC2 release and the timing of the
expected inclusion in the mainline kernel dictated that Fedora go ahead
and push this change.  If major change ABC will be in the mainline
kernel released on June 1, and FC2 is going to be released on June 2
(just picking dates here), FC2 should probably go ahead and include
change ABC.  For FC2 to include change ABC, it needs to be tested, so
the FC2 test releases need to include change ABC as soon as possible to
allow for maximum testing time.

> No where did I even suggest that I like or dislike that.  Actually, I
> did mention that I could care less, I think.  If the option is going to
> to be mainlined -- fine -- set the option as it will be mainlined in the
> default kernel and it will get tested.  But why remove the build option
> altogether?  That seems gratuitous and unnecessary.  That's the only
> question I have, and it remains mostly unanswered.

I (and others) have answered it.  The kernel developers try to reduce
configure options where possible, because the more options, the more
ways the kernel can break (which also means the more questions have to
be answered before meaningful debugging can take place).  If change ABC
make the kernel run better (for some definition of "better"), then just
make change ABC.  Don't make it a configure option, just make the change
to the code.  This also leads to simpler code, as there are fewer
conditional lines of code.

-- 
Chris Adams <cmadams at hiwaay.net>
Systems and Network Administrator - HiWAAY Internet Services
I don't speak for anybody but myself - that's enough trouble.