Subject: Re: [2.6 patch] defconfig's shouldn't set CONFIG_BROKEN=y

From: Adrian Bunk <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:00:01 +0100

On Tue, Dec 13, 2005 at 02:34:04PM +0100, Simon Richter wrote:

> Hi,

Hi Simon,

> Adrian Bunk wrote:
> 
> >>It's a problem introduced by your patch because the resulting defconfig
> >>file becomes _wrong_ by your change, and other changes in the defconfig
> >>are thereby hidden.
> >>...
> 
> >No, CONFIG_BROKEN=y in a defconfig file is a bug.
> 
> Indeed, but that's not the point. A defconfig file should be the result 
> of running one of the various configuration targets; yours are 
> hand-patched. If you run the defconfig target, it will copy the config 
> file and run oldconfig, thus resulting in a different configuration file 
> (because options may now be gone and hence disabled) than what was in 
> the defconfig, and thus people may come to the wrong conclusion that if 
> a driver is enabled in a defconfig file, it will be built.

defconfig files are virtually never a configuration for the kernel they 
are shipped with since they aren't updated every time some configuration 
option is changed.

Consider a defconfig with CONFIG_BROKEN=n, and a driver that is enabled 
in this defconfig gets for some reason marked as broken in the Kconfig 
file - this will give exactly the same result as the one you describe.

>    Simon

cu
Adrian

-- 

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        of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
       "Only a promise," Lao Er said.
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