Re: script for compiling the kernel

Marc Mutz (Marc@Mutz.com)
Tue, 06 Jul 1999 19:15:36 +0200


Sorry Frank to write it again to you, but I forgot to echo it to the ml.

Frank Butter wrote:
>
> On 04-Jul-99 Steffen Evers wrote:
> > I tend to leave zImage the default because:
> > - You can see something is wrong at compiling time not at boot time.
> > - It is very easy to determine what is wrong.
> > - You are told what is wrong.
> > So I consider this as the safe choice.
>
> on most of my machines it is NOT safe, since the kernel simply
> gets too large using zImage. there is no special hardware,
> just lot's of useful network options and scsi ...
>
> other experiences?
>
Steffen's arguments on that have conviced me. He does not say that
zImage is 'safe', because it runs always everywhere (what it does not),
but that it is 'safe', because you can tell 100% that zImage failed at
compile time.
You can have the output of make zImage piped through grep "kernel too
big" or whatevr it says and then promt the user:

Hi $USER!

I've just encountered that my first attempt to compile your kernel
failed, because I thought it not to be so big. This is nothing to worry
about, in fact, with recent kernels this is quite normal. I'll rerun the
compilation for you.
Have patience :-)

Yours, $0.

Marc

-- 
Marc Mutz <Marc@Mutz.com>                    http://marc.mutz.com/
University of Bielefeld, Dep. of Mathematics / Dep. of Physics

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