Userland Kernel Download Tool

[dg50 en daimlerchrysler.com]

> dg50 en daimlerchrysler.com said:

>> Thus, the tool that would provide the capability for partial-tree downloads
>> must handle all the metaconfiguration stuff. It must, without fail, given a
>> current kernel source tree and a list of desired subsystems, provide every
>> single required source file - and it must do so transparent to both users
>> and (more importantly) developers.

> That in the face of files that appear and dissapear, directories that get
> renamed, stuff that is being moved from one file into another, etc.

[...]

> Note that there is rather widespread disatissfaction with the
> current configuration system, as it is brittle and buggy.

> IMHO, your proposal is just too much hard work to do for much too little
> gain

OK, let's look at the logic here:

1) In order for this tool to work, it must parse the kernel config files,
and come up with a data structure that relates "options" to the physical
files on the filesystem.

2) This is a similar (if not identical) process that "make fooconfig" must
do in order to build the kernel in the first place

3) The current config system is concidered "brittle and buggy"

4) The work involved with writing a general purpose kernel config parser
(which may enable more than just this particular tool) is considered
excessive.

Well, all this suggests to me that the real problem lurking at the root of
this discussion is the current config system. Fix it, and the problem goes
away.

Where is it documented? Who designed it? Is an overhaul planned?

DG


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