kernel-source dependency

Post by Morten Johansen
Hi, list!
Every time I need to compile the kernel sources included in TSL, I find
out that I have forgotten to install the ncurses-devel package.
Maybe include a dependency in the kernel-source package for ncurses-devel?

The kernel-source does not depend on ncurses. Do you mean the dependency
when you run 'make menuconfig'? I think that that is the only instance
when the kernel compilation process would need ncurses. Strictly speaking
though, the kernel source package does not depend on ncurses.

Thank you very much.

Best Regards,

Carlo
--
Carlo Florendo
Softare Engineer/Network Co-Administrator
Astra Philippines Inc.
UP-Ayala Technopark, Diliman 1101, Quezon City
Philippines
http://www.astra.ph

--
The Astra Group of Companies
5-3-11 Sekido, Tama City
Tokyo 206-0011, Japan
http://www.astra.co.jp

Morten Johansen

2007-03-28 11:25:02 UTC

Post by Carlo Florendo
The kernel-source does not depend on ncurses. Do you mean the

I agree.

Post by Carlo Florendo
dependency when you run 'make menuconfig'? I think that that is the
only instance when the kernel compilation process would need ncurses.

Yes.

Post by Carlo Florendo
Strictly speaking though, the kernel source package does not depend on
ncurses.

I agree that the kernel source does not really depend on ncurses, but
seeing as how "make menuconfig" on the kernel-source package does
require ncurses-devel to be installed (in the TSL world), maybe someone
should at least think about it?

How many people still use "make config", and not "make menuconfig"?

Best regards

--
Morten Johansen
***@monet.no

Carlo Florendo

2007-03-29 01:46:46 UTC

Post by Morten Johansen

Post by Carlo Florendo
The kernel-source does not depend on ncurses. Do you mean the

I agree.

Post by Carlo Florendo
dependency when you run 'make menuconfig'? I think that that is the
only instance when the kernel compilation process would need ncurses.

Yes.

Post by Carlo Florendo
Strictly speaking though, the kernel source package does not depend on
ncurses.

I agree that the kernel source does not really depend on ncurses, but
seeing as how "make menuconfig" on the kernel-source package does
require ncurses-devel to be installed (in the TSL world), maybe someone
should at least think about it?
How many people still use "make config", and not "make menuconfig"?

I guess only a few hardcore kernel hackers still use make config.

I don't :)

In any case, I don't know how the TSL kernel packagers would address the
issue. But my two cents worth is that it should not be placed as an RPM
dependency.

Thank you very much.

Best Regards,

Carlo
--
Carlo Florendo
Softare Engineer/Network Co-Administrator
Astra Philippines Inc.
UP-Ayala Technopark, Diliman 1101, Quezon City
Philippines
http://www.astra.ph

--
The Astra Group of Companies
5-3-11 Sekido, Tama City
Tokyo 206-0011, Japan
http://www.astra.co.jp

Claudio Broglia

2007-03-29 08:26:43 UTC

In my opinion, it shouldn't be placed as rpm dependency.
I think that if someone wish to recompile the kernel he/she has to
know what it is going to do.
Maybe a disclaimer can be placed in the kernel-source package,
claiming to install ncurses for make menuconfig.

bye
-xeon

--
Claudio Broglia
www.sysroot.eu

Morten Nilsen

2007-03-29 08:40:47 UTC

Post by Claudio Broglia
Maybe a disclaimer can be placed in the kernel-source package,
claiming to install ncurses for make menuconfig.

By claiming, I assume you meant telling or warning?

I would patch the kernel makefile, and check if ncurses-devel was
installed..
If not, abort make and print a notice to install ncurses-devel

I could even create a patch for that.

--
Cheers,
Morten
:wq

Claudio Broglia

2007-03-29 08:44:05 UTC

Post by Morten Nilsen
By claiming, I assume you meant telling or warning?

Just telling.

Post by Morten Nilsen
I would patch the kernel makefile, and check if ncurses-devel was
installed..
If not, abort make and print a notice to install ncurses-devel
I could even create a patch for that.

Yes, as almost everything, but every patch is more work to do. You
should consider mantaining it, reapply it every new kernel, bug-check
it, /etc...

--
Claudio Broglia
www.sysroot.eu

Carlo Florendo

2007-03-29 09:01:57 UTC

Post by Claudio Broglia

Post by Morten Nilsen
By claiming, I assume you meant telling or warning?

Just telling.

Yes, as almost everything, but every patch is more work to do. You
should consider mantaining it, reapply it every new kernel, bug-check
it, /etc...

Maybe it should be proposed as a minor patch at kernel upstream. I'm not
sure about this but once the kernel build files are patched, chances are it
would be easier maintaining it, reapplying it every new kernel,
bug-checking it, etc :)

Thank you very much.

Best Regards,

Carlo
--
Carlo Florendo
Softare Engineer/Network Co-Administrator
Astra Philippines Inc.
UP-Ayala Technopark, Diliman 1101, Quezon City
Philippines
http://www.astra.ph

--
The Astra Group of Companies
5-3-11 Sekido, Tama City
Tokyo 206-0011, Japan
http://www.astra.co.jp

Morten Nilsen

2007-03-29 10:47:34 UTC

Post by Claudio Broglia

Post by Morten Nilsen
I could even create a patch for that.

Yes, as almost everything, but every patch is more work to do. You
should consider mantaining it, reapply it every new kernel, bug-check
it, /etc...

I don't think this patch will be very big, and once it has been applied
to TSL kernel, it's not my responsibility to maintain it, you know ;)

Anyhoo.. this is a discussion for when a patch actually exists.

--
Cheers,
Morten
:wq

Morten Johansen

2007-03-29 14:20:59 UTC

Post by Claudio Broglia

Post by Morten Nilsen
I could even create a patch for that.

Yes, as almost everything, but every patch is more work to do. You
should consider mantaining it, reapply it every new kernel, bug-check
it, /etc...

I don't think this patch will be very big, and once it has been applied
to TSL kernel, it's not my responsibility to maintain it, you know ;)

The simplest patch would be to patch out the "menuconfig" target :D

...my apologies...both for the stupid joke, and for starting such a
discussion. Oh, well. At least I doubled the tsl-discuss volume for march :)

--
Morten Johansen
***@monet.no

Carlo Florendo

2007-03-29 08:56:46 UTC

Post by Claudio Broglia
Maybe a disclaimer can be placed in the kernel-source package,
claiming to install ncurses for make menuconfig.

By claiming, I assume you meant telling or warning?
I would patch the kernel makefile, and check if ncurses-devel was
installed..
If not, abort make and print a notice to install ncurses-devel
I could even create a patch for that.

Great!

This is so nice and exactly what seems to me most plausible :)

Best Regards,

Carlo
--
Carlo Florendo
Softare Engineer/Network Co-Administrator
Astra Philippines Inc.
UP-Ayala Technopark, Diliman 1101, Quezon City
Philippines
http://www.astra.ph

--
The Astra Group of Companies
5-3-11 Sekido, Tama City
Tokyo 206-0011, Japan
http://www.astra.co.jp

Morten Nilsen

2007-03-29 10:44:22 UTC

Great!
This is so nice and exactly what seems to me most plausible :)

Could you file a bug and cc me on it?

--
Cheers,
Morten
:wq

Carlo Florendo

2007-03-30 01:03:35 UTC

Great!
This is so nice and exactly what seems to me most plausible :)

Could you file a bug and cc me on it?

Ok. We'll do that.

Thanks!

Best Regards,

Carlo
--
Carlo Florendo
Softare Engineer/Network Co-Administrator
Astra Philippines Inc.
UP-Ayala Technopark, Diliman 1101, Quezon City
Philippines
http://www.astra.ph

--
The Astra Group of Companies
5-3-11 Sekido, Tama City
Tokyo 206-0011, Japan
http://www.astra.co.jp

Carlo Florendo

2007-04-04 00:54:58 UTC

Great!
This is so nice and exactly what seems to me most plausible :)

Could you file a bug and cc me on it?

Ok. We'll do that.
Thanks!
Best Regards,
Carlo

I've sent a message to the kernel mailing list about the ncurses error. It
seems that the kernel sources' make target, 'make menuconfig', *has* an
appropriate error message when the system does not have ncurses.

On my TSL system, I removed ncurses and got the correct error message, here:

***@blabber /usr/src/kernel-source-2.4.28-11tr# make menuconfig
<snip>