> <andreas.thalhammer <at> linux.com> writes: >[cut down because of gmane's web interface quotation policy] > >> But hey, it was just an idea. A stupid one maybe. So thanks for answering >> anyway. >> > > >Uh like any great idea, you need to show the world, how >serious you are about it : do the first step and collect a few, >then share a link, wikipedia or pastebin style maybe for starters ;) > >In other words, "let's go and you do it", doesn't sound like >a good starting pitch ;) > >-L.
"If I could have, I would have" already done it. I wouldn’t know how. I’m sorry if this soulds like "you do it"… the intension was to see what you think about it. I was working with the hardware database from Fedora (RedHat): Smolt. But Smolt was shut down: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Smolt_retirement When I started working with it, and with other resources of this kind, I always found that it was too chaotic because there are too many ways of describing how to get a Linux system running on a specific hardware. Take the ThinkWiki for example. It describes how to get some specific parts of specific ThinkPad series to work on Linux, but it could be the same procedure and/or patch used for other Laptops or PCs. I had my hardware added to Smolt for the reason to have other benefit from the information on how to get it running (if I got it running) and which kernel version is at least required and other useful information. During that time the idea came up that an automized configuration for a specific computer would be a benefit. That is: make a defconfig, not for a very generic system but for very specific system parts. The example is: PC + Desktop + experimental + <My specific motherboard> + AMD_K10 SMP + RadeonHD_Barts + AllStableUSB + <My specific webcam> + … This "profile" would go into a global configuration file for my computer. The "make defconfig" would then use this information to e.g. set this very specific CONFIG_SENSORS_F71882FG, because the system now knows which specific hardware it is built for. It will leave out all unnecessary stuff, unless otherwise included (in the profile). The provided information could even be used to tell GRUB (grub-mkconfig) for which kernel version which command line options must be used. Putting all this on a server (like Smolt) and having it put together with version information (like: on kernel 3.2 it is CONFIG_SOMETHING whereas starting with 3.3 it is CONFIG_SOMETHINGELSE and includes CONFIG_SOMETHINGELSE_WITH_AN_OPTION) and combined with a Wiki – and all of that can be discussed and created online by users, would get a power-user- community process started. Maybe. Hopefully. With Smolt this wasn’t so. It was too limited in many ways. There are verious Wiki, Blog and Wordpress pages that describe how to compile the linux kernel (and userland software) for a specific system. But there is no central site for that. If Smolt had been a little "better", and more useful in the sense of "this is my hardware – someone with the same, what is your kernel .config file looking like?" would have helped a lot of non-power-users, that – nevertheless – like to compile their own kernel, and maybe add something that was missing in the distribution kernel… Giving them a "make myconfig" with some little extra information (What type of use? "Desktop", how stable? "experimental", and what extra hardware? "<specific>" or "very general, like a distribution kernel") would make their lifes easier; also for power-users. Power-users would in addition provide the config modules (like: what is needed for a specific hardware/hardware expansion) and help on a server site that hosts this information. I’m sorry, but I cannot possibly do this all by myself. I was able to help in some Wikis and in Smolt, but I cannot setup such a system. Apparently I was only able to come up with the idea… (Since I am not even able to answer you, I post as a follow-up to my previous post). -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
