I and others here often direct users to HOWTOs for assistance. One that
helped me long ago, the Kernel-HOWTO at tldp.org, is in immediate danger
of being discontinued. (I'm a part-time lurker on one of their mailing
lists, where this has been the subject of heated discussion the past 2
weeks or so.)

Why? Well, it's not the same one that helped me. That was one by the
previous author. If you look at it you might come to the same conclusion
that TLDP volunteers are reaching: that it is not well-written and is
misleading in some ways.

I would like to see one of us here step forward and assume
maintainership of this HOWTO. Whilst I lack the time and expertise[1] to
spearhead the project, I would pledge to commit a "WHYTO" section to
explain what a user may or may not gain from a custom kernel.

All of this author's work is likely to be pulled from TLDP, but IMO this
particular HOWTO is of greater importance than his others. So many users
want to build their own kernels -- it was convenient to be able to point
them to a HOWTO.


[1] I don't think "expertise" is really necessary, but it would be
better if the maintainer was more of a kernel-builder than I am (I
seldom upgrade my kernels), and had better understanding of gcc and
Makefile syntax.
--
/dev/rob0 - preferred_email=i$((28*28+28))@softhome.net
or put "not-spam" or "/dev/rob0" in Subject header to reply

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On 2003-11-14, /dev/rob0 <rob0@gmx.co.uk> wrote:
> I and others here often direct users to HOWTOs for assistance. One that
> helped me long ago, the Kernel-HOWTO at tldp.org, is in immediate danger
> of being discontinued.

It looks like the Kernel-HOWTO has already been discontinued at
tldp.org. There's a Slackware package in the f directory, IIRC, that
has all the HOWTOs, and it should have some recent version of the Kernel
HOWTO.

> [1] I don't think "expertise" is really necessary, but it would be
> better if the maintainer was more of a kernel-builder than I am (I
> seldom upgrade my kernels), and had better understanding of gcc and
> Makefile syntax.

It might be even better if the new author was on the kernel team; maybe
one of the people responsible for the Makefiles, or someone else close
to the build process.

- --keith

- --
kkeller-usenet@wombat.san-francisco.ca.us
(try just my userid to email me)
AOLSFAQ=http://wombat.san-francisco.ca.us/cgi-bin/fom

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Hey, I'm the first to admit I'm not that bright, but the instructions in
/usr/doc work just fine.

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 13:26:49 -0800, /dev/rob0
wrote:

> I and others here often direct users to HOWTOs for assistance. One that
> helped me long ago, the Kernel-HOWTO at tldp.org, is in immediate danger
> of being discontinued. (I'm a part-time lurker on one of their mailing
> lists, where this has been the subject of heated discussion the past 2
> weeks or so.)
>
> Why? Well, it's not the same one that helped me. That was one by the
> previous author. If you look at it you might come to the same conclusion
> that TLDP volunteers are reaching: that it is not well-written and is
> misleading in some ways.
>
> I would like to see one of us here step forward and assume
> maintainership of this HOWTO. Whilst I lack the time and expertise[1] to
> spearhead the project, I would pledge to commit a "WHYTO" section to
> explain what a user may or may not gain from a custom kernel.
>
> All of this author's work is likely to be pulled from TLDP, but IMO this
> particular HOWTO is of greater importance than his others. So many users
> want to build their own kernels -- it was convenient to be able to point
> them to a HOWTO.
>
>
> [1] I don't think "expertise" is really necessary, but it would be
> better if the maintainer was more of a kernel-builder than I am (I
> seldom upgrade my kernels), and had better understanding of gcc and
> Makefile syntax.

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Keith Keller <kkeller-usenet@wombat.san-francisco.ca.us> is
thought to have typed the following text on 2003-11-14:

> On 2003-11-14, /dev/rob0 <rob0@gmx.co.uk> wrote:

> It might be even better if the new author was on the kernel team; maybe
> one of the people responsible for the Makefiles, or someone else close
> to the build process.
>
In a way it would, but I think I'd prefer such a person to spend his
time coding instead of writing up HOWTO's. It's different when it's
something complex and uncommon that needs documenting, but there oughta
be enough people around that know enough about the kernel (it's not
like many people hardly ever use it ;-)) to write a decent HOWTO.

Plus programmers aren't always the best writers IME.

- --
Bartosz Oudekerk

Play Rogue, visit exotic locations, meet strange creatures
and kill them.
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On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 18:10:26 -0500, Leonard the Committed wrote:

Hey, I'm the first to admit I'm not that bright, but the instructions in
/usr/doc work just fine.

> On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 13:26:49 -0800, /dev/rob0
> wrote:
>
XI: Thou shalt not toppost

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Confucius: He who play in root, eventually kill tree.
Registered with The Linux Counter. http://counter.li.org/
Slackware 9.0 Kernel 2.4.20 i686 (GCC) 3.2.2

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 13:26:49 -0800, /dev/rob0 wrote:

> I and others here often direct users to HOWTOs for assistance. One that
> helped me long ago, the Kernel-HOWTO at tldp.org, is in immediate danger
> of being discontinued. (I'm a part-time lurker on one of their mailing
> lists, where this has been the subject of heated discussion the past 2
> weeks or so.)

I am guilty of doing just that.

> Why? Well, it's not the same one that helped me. That was one by the
> previous author. If you look at it you might come to the same conclusion
> that TLDP volunteers are reaching: that it is not well-written and is
> misleading in some ways.

As i see it, the old Kernel-HOWTO is now way out of date because the way
2.6 has changed so many things.

>
> I would like to see one of us here step forward and assume
> maintainership of this HOWTO. Whilst I lack the time and expertise[1] to
> spearhead the project, I would pledge to commit a "WHYTO" section to
> explain what a user may or may not gain from a custom kernel.

But the one who steps forward would have to have first hand experiance at
compiling 2.6 in all asspects, i have compiled a few 2.6's but i cannot
say i belong to the correct catorgory to take on such an undertaking.

>
> All of this author's work is likely to be pulled from TLDP, but IMO this
> particular HOWTO is of greater importance than his others. So many users
> want to build their own kernels -- it was convenient to be able to point
> them to a HOWTO.

Its gone now.

>
>
> [1] I don't think "expertise" is really necessary, but it would be
> better if the maintainer was more of a kernel-builder than I am (I
> seldom upgrade my kernels), and had better understanding of gcc and
> Makefile syntax.

It may be a good idea to have 2 one for 2.4 and one for 2.6, however
having said that, that is a point which does not go down well with the
folks who look after the sites where howto's are found.

I in the past have done documentation work but take it from me its never
good enough for some, no matter who writes it i can assue you.

--
If the Linux community is a bunch of theives because they
try to imitate windows programs, then the Windows community
is built on organized crime.

Regards Richard
pa3gcu@zeelandnet.nl
http://people.zeelandnet.nl/pa3gcu/