On Mon, Apr 13, 2026 at 09:40:57AM -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> On Tue, 31 Mar 2026 at 10:42, Joel Fernandes <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > RCU stall:
> >
> > - Add BOOTPARAM_RCU_STALL_PANIC Kconfig option to allow triggering a kernel
> > panic on RCU stall via kernel boot parameter.
>
> No.
>
> Dammit, stop doing these horrible things.
>
> I've said this a million times by now: the kernel config phase is
> probably one of the biggest pain points for random new people trying
> to build their own kernels, and we DO NOT ASK PEOPLE STUIPID THINGS.
>
> People who want this can damn well use the sysctl or maybe some kernel
> command line option instead, and we DO NOT MAKE LIFE WORSE FOR
> EVERYBODY ELSE.
>
> I have removed that disgusting kernel kconfig option, and I want to
> make it very clear to people that the kconfig files aren't your
> personal playgrounds: they are the most visible interface to NORMAL
> USERS that we want to encourage to build their own kernels so that
> they can participate in kernel development.
>
> So people: next time you feel the urge to add a Kconfig option, take a
> deep breath, and look at that Kconfig file, and go "Maybe I can
> instead remove this *other* useless option instead".
>
> Let's *improve* on the kernel instead of making things worse.
Apologies! Would making this instead be a kernel boot parameter be
acceptable?
Thanx, Paul
