On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 01:06:09AM +1100, Nick Andrew wrote:
> Here is a series of 9 patches to init/Kconfig intended to improve the
> usefulness and consistency of the help descriptions. The patches are
> against linux-2.6.24.2.
> [...]
> Patch 7
> EMBEDDED
> SYSCTL_SYSCALL
> KALLSYMS
> KALLSYMS_ALL
> KALLSYMS_EXTRA_PASS
> HOTPLUG
> PRINTK
> BUG
> ELF_CORE
> BASE_FULL
> FUTEX
> EPOLL
> SIGNALFD
> TIMERFD
> EVENTFD
Changelog:
Improve usefulness and consistency of kernel configuration help messages.
Signed-off-by: Nick Andrew <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--- a/init/Kconfig 2008-02-20 00:45:07.000000000 +1100
+++ b/init/Kconfig 2008-02-20 00:52:07.000000000 +1100
@@ -439,10 +439,14 @@ menuconfig EMBEDDED
bool "Configure standard kernel features (for small systems)"
help
This option allows certain base kernel options and settings
- to be disabled or tweaked. This is for specialized
- environments which can tolerate a "non-standard" kernel.
+ to be disabled or tweaked. This is for embedded systems and
+ specialized environments which can tolerate a "non-standard"
+ kernel.
+
Only use this if you really know what you are doing.
+ If unsure, say N.
+
config UID16
bool "Enable 16-bit UID system calls" if EMBEDDED
depends on ARM || BLACKFIN || CRIS || FRV || H8300 || X86_32 || M68K ||
(S390 && !64BIT) || SUPERH || SPARC32 || (SPARC64 && SPARC32_COMPAT) || UML ||
(X86_64 && IA32_EMULATION)
@@ -460,51 +464,62 @@ config SYSCTL_SYSCALL
using paths with ascii names is now the primary path to this
information.
- Almost nothing using the binary sysctl interface so if you are
+ Almost nothing uses the binary sysctl interface so if you are
trying to save some space it is probably safe to disable this,
making your kernel marginally smaller.
- If unsure say Y here.
+ If unsure, say Y.
config KALLSYMS
- bool "Load all symbols for debugging/ksymoops" if EMBEDDED
- default y
- help
- Say Y here to let the kernel print out symbolic crash information and
- symbolic stack backtraces. This increases the size of the kernel
- somewhat, as all symbols have to be loaded into the kernel image.
+ bool "Load all symbols for debugging/ksymoops" if EMBEDDED
+ default y
+ help
+ This information causes the kernel to print out symbolic crash
+ information and symbolic stack backtraces.
+
+ It increases the size of the kernel somewhat, as all symbols
+ have to be loaded into the kernel image.
+
+ If unsure, say Y.
config KALLSYMS_ALL
bool "Include all symbols in kallsyms"
depends on DEBUG_KERNEL && KALLSYMS
help
- Normally kallsyms only contains the symbols of functions, for nicer
- OOPS messages. Some debuggers can use kallsyms for other
- symbols too: say Y here to include all symbols, if you need them
- and you don't care about adding 300k to the size of your kernel.
+ Normally kallsyms only contains the symbols of functions, for nicer
+ OOPS messages. Some debuggers can use kallsyms for other
+ symbols too: say Y here to include all symbols, if you need them.
+
+ Your kernel size will increase by around 300k.
- Say N.
+ If unsure, say N.
config KALLSYMS_EXTRA_PASS
bool "Do an extra kallsyms pass"
depends on KALLSYMS
help
- If kallsyms is not working correctly, the build will fail with
- inconsistent kallsyms data. If that occurs, log a bug report and
- turn on KALLSYMS_EXTRA_PASS which should result in a stable build.
- Always say N here unless you find a bug in kallsyms, which must be
- reported. KALLSYMS_EXTRA_PASS is only a temporary workaround while
- you wait for kallsyms to be fixed.
+ If kallsyms is not working correctly, the build will fail with
+ inconsistent kallsyms data. If that occurs, log a bug report and
+ turn on KALLSYMS_EXTRA_PASS which should result in a stable build.
+
+ Always say N here unless you find a bug in kallsyms, which must be
+ reported. KALLSYMS_EXTRA_PASS is only a temporary workaround while
+ you wait for kallsyms to be fixed.
+ If unsure, say N.
config HOTPLUG
bool "Support for hot-pluggable devices" if EMBEDDED
default y
help
This option is provided for the case where no hotplug or uevent
- capabilities is wanted by the kernel. You should only consider
- disabling this option for embedded systems that do not use modules, a
- dynamic /dev tree, or dynamic device discovery. Just say Y.
+ capabilities are wanted by the kernel.
+
+ You should only consider disabling this option for embedded
+ systems that do not use modules, a dynamic /dev tree, or
+ dynamic device discovery.
+
+ If unsure, say Y.
config PRINTK
default y
@@ -516,21 +531,30 @@ config PRINTK
very difficult to diagnose system problems, saying N here is
strongly discouraged.
+ If unsure, say Y.
+
config BUG
bool "BUG() support" if EMBEDDED
default y
help
Disabling this option eliminates support for BUG and WARN, reducing
the size of your kernel image and potentially quietly ignoring
- numerous fatal conditions. You should only consider disabling this
- option for embedded systems with no facilities for reporting errors.
- Just say Y.
+ numerous fatal conditions.
+
+ You should only consider disabling this option for embedded
+ systems with no facilities for reporting errors.
+
+ If unsure, say Y.
config ELF_CORE
default y
bool "Enable ELF core dumps" if EMBEDDED
help
- Enable support for generating core dumps. Disabling saves about 4k.
+ Enable support for generating core dumps when a process fails.
+
+ Your kernel size will increase by around 4k.
+
+ If unsure, say Y.
config BASE_FULL
default y
@@ -540,6 +564,8 @@ config BASE_FULL
kernel data structures. This saves memory on small machines,
but may reduce performance.
+ If unsure, say Y.
+
config FUTEX
bool "Enable futex support" if EMBEDDED
default y
@@ -549,6 +575,8 @@ config FUTEX
support for "fast userspace mutexes". The resulting kernel may not
run glibc-based applications correctly.
+ If unsure, say Y.
+
config ANON_INODES
bool
@@ -560,13 +588,15 @@ config EPOLL
Disabling this option will cause the kernel to be built without
support for epoll family of system calls.
+ If unsure, say Y.
+
config SIGNALFD
bool "Enable signalfd() system call" if EMBEDDED
select ANON_INODES
default y
help
- Enable the signalfd() system call that allows to receive signals
- on a file descriptor.
+ Enable the signalfd() system call that allows a process to
+ receive signals on a file descriptor.
If unsure, say Y.
@@ -576,8 +606,8 @@ config TIMERFD
depends on BROKEN
default y
help
- Enable the timerfd() system call that allows to receive timer
- events on a file descriptor.
+ Enable the timerfd() system call that allows a process to
+ receive timer events on a file descriptor.
If unsure, say Y.
@@ -586,8 +616,9 @@ config EVENTFD
select ANON_INODES
default y
help
- Enable the eventfd() system call that allows to receive both
- kernel notification (ie. KAIO) or userspace notifications.
+ Enable the eventfd() system call that allows a process to
+ receive both kernel notification (ie. KAIO) or userspace
+ notifications.
If unsure, say Y.
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