On 5/8/07, Randy Dunlap  wrote:

quoted text
> On Mon, 07 May 2007 16:31:48 -0400 Jeff Garzik wrote:

>

> > Satyam Sharma wrote:

> > > Yes, mixing select and depends is a recipe for build disasters. Call

> > > me a rabid fanatic, but I would in fact go as far as to say that this

> > > whole "select" thing in the Kconfig process is one big BUG, and not a

> > > feature. People are lazy by nature and would rather just "select" a

> > > dependency for their config option than burden users with several

> > > "depends".

> >

> > Tough, the kernel community has voted against you.

>

> Andrew (usually) implores people not to use "select" and I agree

> with him.

>

> > It makes far more sense to include a driver during kernel configuration,

> > and have that driver pull in its libraries via 'select'.  The lame

> > alternative requires developers to know which libraries they need BEFORE

> > picking their drivers, which is backwards and requires legwork on the

> > part of the kernel developer.

>

> Developers?  If you had said "users," I might agree, but IMO it's

> OK (or even Good) for developers to know what libraries their code

> uses/requires.  Yes, that's a good thing.

You're absolutely right, but to give Jeff the benefit of the doubt I'm

sure he _meant_ "users" there although he said "developers". Stating

the obvious, the developer _has_ to know what stuff his code uses

anyway, otherwise what does he "select"s or "depends" his config

option on.
As for users, we _can_ avoid pitfalls by building a complete

dependency tree and just selecting _everything_ that we require for a

particular config option to be selected, but some users could

conceivably prefer only being _told_ about what else they need to

successfully pick a config option (than everything just getting in

behind their backs). Actually (correct me if I'm wrong), this is not

presently possible: an option is not visible unless dependencies are

already picked. Just a suggestion, though.

-

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