Re: [PATCH 1/3] WAN Kconfig: change "depends on HDLC" to "select"

[Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com>]

Satyam Sharma wrote:
> On 5/8/07, Randy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com> wrote:
> > 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.

That's correct for menuconfig.  For xconfig, there are GUI options to
	Show Name
	Show Range
	Show Data
	Show All Options
	Show Debug Info

I often have all of them enabled.

--
~Randy
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