>> >Default is 'n' when omitted... >> >> This default stuff seems to be make-work >> without any real value. >> >> At one time we had default =m to try to show >> what a reasonable usable configuration was. >> These got globally replaced to =y because >> apparently it is taboo to have default =m. >> >> But =y defaults don't make much sense either, >> particularly if you use =m like most people do. >> >> The last time we discussed this, Roman suggested >> deleting all the defaults that require human interaction. >> >> As the concept appears to be meaningless, I'm inclined to agree. > >The problem with using defaults is, if something should be >enabled, maybe it shouldn't be a config option at all or at least be hidden. >In the future this should all be part of an autoconfiguration process, >where a base configuration is generated from different sources (e.g. a >script which looks at the current kernel or machine specific default >config). The point is that the defaults can depend on a lot of >parameters, one of which is the user himself and every user likes >different defaults. So until we have a better autoconfiguration it's better to avoid >abusing the defaults. The current configuration system is not ready for aunt Tilly >yet, it would be far better to provide useful help texts to >allow the user to make reasonable a decision and the majority of the defaults >should come from a different source anyway (the current kernel >configuration) and for any new configuration option which can cause a kernel to be unbootable >should maybe not an option. Lets take a concrete example. CONFIG_ACPI_BUTTON It is totally nuts to to to the trouble of includeing CONFIG_ACPI and not including the few lines of code necessary to handle your power button. But at the same time, most people use =m for this because on a non-ACPI system they want as much out as possible. so we have default y conflicts with most popular use of =m default m taboo default n, no no default makes no sense, give that we get here only if CONFIG_ACPI... Seems the choices are to make the default to =m if modules are enabled, and default to y otherwise, or to simply grow the kernel and have it hard-wired to y with no choice. What do you recommend? thanks, -Len - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-acpi" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
