Hi adam
abower@thebowery.co.uk wrote :
great, but you really can't beat apt. I just wish debian allowed you to build a kernel the proper way.
Erm, how does debian stop you from building a kernel in the "proper" way? anyhow make-kpkg does build "proper" kernels and installs them for you in the proper way, Redhat only recently got a nice system with the make rpm option which AFAICT does basically what the debian system does.
Methinks you are deliberately mis-defining 'proper' and confusing the usage - a "proper" kernel is not the same as a kernel made in the "proper" way. ie. were the final kernel not 'proper' then it wouldn't be a kernel, if make-kpkg was the "proper" way to make a kernel then why don't other distros provide it? Since I got into Linux (about 1997) I've built many kernels, all of which were built using the good old reliable make - the same way available on all distros I've used (until Debian), thus the de-facto standard way (my definition of 'proper' in this context). This is not possible under Debian, you have to learn another way (make-kpkg). I'm not saying its wrong or bad but my experience was to install the kernel-source, and enjoy very strange errors when trying to make it under debian, then finding out that it didn't build in the proper way, I had to go get some info and try again with a not-proper (distro-specific) way. You can tell someone how to build a kernel in a single paragraph. Except you now need to add other paragraphs to cover the other ways in case their distro is an exception. Standards (especially de-facto) are a good thing. There should always be a choice between the Standard and any extensions which an individual distro may have added. Or have M$ won that argument now? Lets stuff the Standard, whether formal or de-facto if it doesn't fit our worldview. As I say - not knocking make-kpkg, its actually very good. But is it not possible to alter the install files to update the apt database when installing a kernel using make ? That way debian could install a "proper" kernel "properly" having made it in the "proper" way. ;o)
Cheers Earl
PS. written word does not convey tongue firmly planted in cheek, please bare this in mind prior to slamming me. Life's too short. :oP
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