Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 08:38:49 -0500 (CDT) From: "M. L. Dodson" <bdodson@beowulf.utmb.edu> To: ben@narcissus.ml.org, nadav@barcode.co.il Cc: dmaddox@scsn.net, questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD 2.1.7 and COMPAT_43 -Reply Message-ID: <199705141338.IAA00697@beowulf.utmb.edu>
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> > Snob Art Genre wrote: > > > > On Tue, 13 May 1997, Donald J. Maddox wrote: > > > > > Change what working code? I admit ignorance of config internals, > > > but if seems to me that you would just need to change occurences of: > > > > > > #ifdef INET > > > > > > to > > > > > > #ifndef INETLESS > > > > > > No? > > > > I admit ignorance of both C preprocessor workings and kernel code, but > > that *sounds* reasonable . . . :) > > > > Why don't you work up some diffs and submit them to the appropriate > > person? > > > > > Donald J. Maddox > > > (dmaddox@scsn.net) > > > > Ben > > > > "You have your mind on computers, it seems." > > I'm afraid there's another point overlooked here. Options like INET and > even device npx0 are part of a great(?) BSD heritage. I guess INET was > in BSD kernel configs long before FreeBSD was born. > This is the real reason, I would think. Remember that BSD was originally written by the CSRG: Computer Science RESEARCH Group at Berkeley. Options, which for most people are not really optional, ;-), may be optional in a research environment. Besides, all the books I have ever read on BSD system administration make a point of the "nonoptional" options. We already get enough complaints that there are no books about BSD (even though there are). Why invalidate the discussion of kernel configuration in these books by leaving these "options" out? > On the other hand, it *is* confusing for a newbie to configure a FreeBSD > kernel. I think it would be better to just be able to mark to config > that some configurations are dangerous, so when config-ing a kernel > missing something important it will give a warning such as: > > ***WARNING*** > You are missing the 'INET' option. > The configured kernel may not be bootable > > Even WinNT gives this sort of warning when you disable, say, a SCSI > device driver (of fear that it is the controller for the boot disk). > > I think this will leave us with the freedom to hack, the standard BSD > options in the kernel, and will scare off curious newbies from removing > important options. I wouldn't mind this, although I don't see this as a big issue. > Now all that's left is to hack config ;-) If you feel the need. > > Nadav > Bud Dodson -- M. L. Dodson bdodson@scms.utmb.edu 409-772-2178 FAX: 409-772-1790
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