[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Herbert Xu) writes: > > kernel where all options were compiled into separate modules so simply > > choosing the right modules constructs the optimal kernel. > > Guess what, that's how the current 2.4 kernel images are constructed.
Well, not really. All of the drivers and other pieces which can be delivered as modules, perhaps... but you're still having to deliver N different kernel-image packages to handle options that are *not* modular, which is the root of this whole discussion. If we step back from the details for a moment, it could be argued that the presence of so many compile-time-only options in the ia32 support is a kernel design fault. However, which options are configurable at compile time only and which are configurable at run time in the Linux kernel is beyond Debian's control. Personally, the combination of a single precompiled binary kernel package for ia32 and an improved toolset for assisting users with the process of configuring and compiling a kernel that is truly optimized for their situation seems like a better approach than lots of prebuilt kernels... Bdale
