New Linux Configuration Tool

paul.dunne writes "Looks like we are finally well on the way to getting a replacement for the old Linux configuration tools. Details in a thread on the linux-kernel mailing list. Basically, Linus likes it; it's written in C, so there are no "language issues"; and feedback on the mailing list so far seems positive and constructive."

Comments

Insane developer? never!

[echophase]

"I had to use my own Makefile again (Rules.make is slowly driving me insane)."

What this is about

[Anonymous Coward]

This is about how the linux kernel is configured and built. At the moment there are a mess of makefiles and shell scripts that provide make oldconfig/config/menuconfig/xconfig etc.

LKC is a new configuration file format/language for describing how the configurations options interelate and which are set, and a parser for this language that interfaces with the build system and tells it how to build your kernel. See this if you're interested.

This is all probably A Good Thing (it should make maintaining the the build system easier), but people who don't maintain linux makefiles probably won't find this the world's most fascinating feature. make menuconfig still does basically the same thing. Your .config files in 2.6.x/3.0.x will be in a different format to those from 2.4.x if you look. That's about it.

What about kde?

[anonymous coword]

Kde contains a very good kernel congiurator in the control center. Now if they could take that, make it stand alone (no kde needed) and bundle it with the kernel then it could be great

Re:What about kde?

[gimpimp]

the kde one is just a frontend to the current configuration tools.
i think this one checks module dependancies in the kernel.

Re:What about kde?

[cornice]

Remove KDE and you get xconfig (menuconfig for X).It's not so much about a spiffy end user interface as much as a tool set to accomodate the various interfaces into the future (spiffy and not so spiffy).

From the website
The important changes which come with LinuxKernelConf are a new configuration syntax and a single parser for this language. Multiple utilities can be build on top of this, right now only the old configuration utilities are reimplemented which make use of it. The console utilities ("make config" and "make menuconfig") preserve their old behaviour for all the kernel hackers which loathe drastic behaviour changes. :-) The new X interface ("make xconfig") shows a bit how kernel configuration could be done in the future.

Re:just a kernel tool(well Linux is just a kernel)

[wikki]

Not that I really want to get the whole GNU/Linux debate and flame war going, but Linux is just a kernel, so technically the title is correct. I Linux configuration tool can't really be much more than a kernel configuration tool.

As far as needing a new tool goes, I really don't see the need. make menuconfig works great for me, but there might be some underlying problems when adding new functinality to the kernel and whatnot. Having it detect my hardware and build a static kernel with no modules would be pretty damn cool.

Detailed summary of the LKML thread...

[rimdo]

may be found here.

-rimdo

Re:menuconfig

[LinuxGeek8]

There's nothing wrong with "make menuconfig". I find it actually better to navigate then "make xconfig".
The problem is that "make config", "make menuconfig" and "make xconfig" each use different methods. Roman Zippel now made a seperate backend and frontend. There's one backend, and there can be several frontends, like "make config", "make menuconfig" and "make xconfig".

The new xconfig uses Qt, but there could just as wel be a Gtk+ frontend, or a Tcl/Tk (ugh) frontend.
But from what I read, it seems that the frontend needs to go with the kernel itself. I hope I picked that up wrong, and that it is possible to use a xconfig (Qt) frontend with different kernel versions. That way the backend, and the 2 console frontends can ship with the kernel, and the gui frontends can be shipped by the distributors.

Re:Screen shots?

[Anonymous Coward]

You can find some screenshots at KernelTrap: http://kerneltrap.org/node.php?id=404

Re:Who cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

How hard can it be to write a utility that scans /proc/pci and creates a kernel config file from it?

Hmmm...

[user@host linux-2.4]# cat /proc/pci >> .config
[user@host linux-2.4]# make dep && make clean bzImage modules modules_install && cp /usr/src/linux-2.4/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot
.config:5: *** missing separator. Stop.
[user@host linux-2.4]#

Wow, that was easy! And it took way less time than it usually does to compile! Now, I just have to reboot for the new kernel to take effect and...

Re:menuconfig

[Anonymous Coward]

http://kerneltrap.com/node.php?id=455

Linus answered, "Too ugly. I actually think QT is a fine choice, I just suspect that it's going to cause political issues." Fortunately, Roman has designed his new configuration system in such a way that the subsystem could be distributed with the kernel, and the graphical configuration portions could be offered separately.

Re:Who cares?

[Wesley Felter]

Linux is NOT different; if you build the kernel with everything enabled (as most distributions do), then the kernel does not need to be recompiled to add hardware. A tool to build a kernel customized for your hardware solves the wrong problem; you shouldn't have to rebuild the kernel at all.

Re:just a kernel tool

[Unknown Lamer]

I don't think you understand. Without GNU Linux is nothing. Linus didn't just wake up one morning and write a C compiler, C library, editor, debugger, etc. He wrote a kernel. And then he and others adapted the GNU system to run on his kernel. The GNU in GNU/Linux isn't about how much code GNU contributed; it is about giving credit to the GNU project that has spent that last twenty years working on writing a UNIX compatible OS. You can run GNU without the Linux--just grab the latest Debian Hurd images. The Hurd works today. Pure GNU may not work as well as GNU/Linux, but it works. Explain to me what you would call a system running the Solaris kernel but with all of the Sun tools replaced with GNU ones. Would that still be Solaris? Just think how you would feel if you were RMS and spent so long working on GNU, only to have Linus come along and not give your life's work any credit. RMS suggested Lignux before, I think that was perfectly reasonable. But Linus wouldn't agree to adding one silent letter...I also dislike the Open Source movement and just wish everyone would put their egos away (so now you'll call me a hypocrit).

(on a side note, today was the first time since I started reading /. three years ago I was moderated down, and I'm going to guess this comment will be moderated down too). I'm cold, wet, and tired. Don't take what I wrote the wrong way.

Re:Who cares?

[A Life in Hell]

it exists, it ships as a part of many distro's (debian, mandrake, probably everything else), and it's called hotplug. apt-get install hotplug on debian, but I can't speak for anything else. works flawlessly here.

(you probably want to apt-get install discover, too, which detects PCI/PNP hardware automatically each boot. it makes linux MUCH MUCH more comforatble :)

- jj

Re:menuconfig

[buysse]

Redhat: add hd[x]=ide-scsi to the kernel command line in lilo or grub. Run lilo (if necessary) and reboot. Done.

No recompile necessary. Since 6.x.