On Thu, May 6, 2021 at 6:04 PM Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> From: Saeed Mirzamohammadi <saeed.mirzamohammadi@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: kernel/crash_core: add crashkernel=auto for vmcore creation
>
> This adds crashkernel=auto feature to configure reserved memory for vmcore
> creation. CONFIG_CRASH_AUTO_STR is defined to be set for different kernel
> distributions and different archs based on their needs.
Ugh. I didn't realize how nasty this was until after I'd applied this patch.
I'm going to drop this patch, because the Kconfig thing for it is an
unmitigated mess. I was confused by the question, and then the help
message was actively misleading.
This is wrong for so many reasons:
- this is a classic case of "you shouldn't ask a user this".
The question makes no sense to any normal person, it certainly
didn't to me. Don't ask questions that don't have sane answers.
- the config help text is actively misleading, and claims that the
option is about how much memory is reserved for a crash kernel
Not so. It's the default string for when somebody uses "crashkernel=auto"
- this shouldn't be a config option at all, it's clearly a distro
setting, and should be on the kernel command line with the other
distro settings.
So I'm dropping this, and I don't see it ever being applied in this
form for the above reasons.
People, I've said this before, and apparently I need to say it again:
the kernel config is likely the nastiest part of building a local
kernel, and the biggest impediment to people actually building their
own kernels.
And people building their own kernel is the first step to becoming a
kernel developer.
So the kernel configuration is already one of the less pleasant parts
of the kernel, but that does NOT mean that we should strive to make it
even worse.
Obscure, odd, strange config questions like this are a no-no. We're
not making an already bad experience wose for something like this.
Linus
