Slashdot Mirror
Should Aunt Tillie Build Her Own Kernels?
DeadBugs writes: "Linux Weekly News is reporting on a new linux controversy. The inclusion of a Kernel Autoconfiguration program that would make it easy for almost anybody to build a custom Kernel on their computer. Eric Raymond supports this idea saying that this will bring Linux to a wider market. Those that oppose this idea mainly think that only those educated few should custom build their own Kernels. I for one hope this gets included if only to make standard installations and upgrades faster."
I can see it now from the vendors "Compiling your own kernel voids any software support." Can you imagine trying to keep up with all the changes as a software vendor? So maybe as a test system, yes. Supported? No
"If you are on fire you can just stop, drop, and roll. If you fall into Lava you are just dead." - my 5yr old daughter
Get real. Aunt Tillie thinks kernels are something you find on a ear of corn.
Lost: Sig, white with black letters. No collar. Reward if found!
Before she goes round rebuilding her kernel, first she needs to understand that this has nothing to do with maize.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
whoa, did I say autoconf?!?!?!?! Sorry ... I meant, this auto kernel config tool. Yikes, I think it's time to go home ... or maybe for a refill on the coffee. :(
"Old man yells at systemd"
Here is a different angle on the same issue, that makes for a better debate: Should the typical user be running a precompiled, distribution supplied kernel or a customized kernel that may offer performance advantages or may be wildly inappropriate and which creates immense tech support headaches?
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Yes, only a select few should be able to do as they wish with kernel source. In fact, we should make it so only people working for a certain company can see the OS source. Then we should charge huge fees to change it. Hey, lets change our name to Microsoft while we're at it.
It would be great if anyone could build a custom kernel.
Imagine this... Let's say it's 5 years down the road, and the hot new computer is the 72 ghz Apple Pentium G7 with 64 gigs of on-chip ram. Hard drives have been totally eliminated because new, memory based permanent storage technology has been invented and proven over the past 2 years. An entire meg can be recorded in under 1 microsecond. The only remaining mechanical component of a computer is the standard Glass-RW drive (the 2 terabyte recordable successor to DVD), so the whole computer is now a small single board, and most of the electronic hardware is inside the main processor, an inch square in size. In fact, the plugs on this board take more room and cost more than the computation hardware.
Now imagine that a build world takes 4 minutes to complete. Here's how installation of FreeBSD 9.8-RELEASE takes place. (Yeah, I know this was a Linux thread.) You pop the Glassdisk in the drive, choose a few options, and all your software is configured, optimized, checked for security vulnerabilities, compiled and installed within 2 or 3 minutes.
In order for that to happen in 5 years, Granny needs the ability to custom configure her own kernel right now.
In response to your question, yes, I think we should do just that.
Bill Gates
Posting anonymously in order to preserve my karma.
Pro Coder: "So Aunt Tillie, how would you like to compile your own custom Linux Kernel?"
Aunt Tillie: "What the hell are you talking about?"
Pro Coder: "You know, compile a custom Linux Kernel, so you can have a very customized OS."
Aunt Tillie: "Why would I want to do that?"
The conclusion we draw from this interview is: your average user doesn't have any idea what a Linux Kernel is and that they don't need a custom kernel, at least not yet
The answers to the last five are obviously no. It's only the first where there's any question.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
I think if Aunt Tillie can create a swap partition during installation, pick a window manager, download compile + install the latest mozilla browser update (or maybe she prefers Opera), configure her firewall, and set up lpr for her printer, she can recompile her kernel. I just don't want to be around when she starts looking for "Freecell."
_______
2B1ASK1
i agree with the "I never would have learned anything if I thought like that."
/. if you think like that, you are a block to higher learning, your logic is illogical, and Spok really would hate you if he could!
you should not be here, @
People a great for one reason, our ability to learn and overcome problems. We be in the stone age still if we couldn't "hack" what is know and try to improve it.
every invention known to man is a "hack" of existing knowledge.
In other words, it is a GOOD THING®
It's not a real linux keyboard. A real linux keyboard would come with no letters and allow each user to set each key to anyting you want. It would also send out electrical shocks every once in a while just for the hell of it :-)
all I got was told to RTFM!
and use man.
and it worked pretty good.
And the man called Stallman came unto them and he said "Thou shalt use info" for info was begotten of emacs, and emacs was begotten of Stallman.
And the gnu tools moved their documentation unto info, and the man pages were deprecated.
The users were mightily angered by this, for they already had man, and it worked pretty good.
Info, the bastard son of emacs was no better, but did devour great multitudes of megabytes in the manner of it's father. And the users wailed and gnashed their teeth, and rent their robes in anger.
The users went unto the house of stallman, and demanded that he deliver unto them the gnu tools documentation in a manner that could be read by the venerable man program. And stallman refused, saying "all of you, let the light of emacs into your heart, and you too shall know the joy of info". But the users did not, for their hearts had neither the megabytes nor the megahertz to satiate the appetite of emacs.
Stallman saw that the users were not swayed by his words, and he sent them away, saying "begone, before I order thee apped "GNU/" to thy names, and thy hostnames, and the names of your wives, and children, and cattle, and pigs, and goldfish.
And the users left in haste, for they did not wish to be known as the GNU/users.