OK, I stand corrected. However, I still think that putting it in an extra
ELF segment that isn't loaded is the best idea. Think about the uses of the
infomation. Basically, the reason for having it in the kernel at all is to
allow people who nuked their source tree (or never had one) to figure out
what the configuration for it was, either to build a new kernel, make a bug
report, or something similar. In those cases it is not unreasonable to ask
to have the boot medum preset/mounted to get the info. After all, currently
you have to mount the device with your kernel tree to get it. IMO, /proc
should be for dynamic sorts of information, not just a storehouse for data
that we think users might delete even though they will want it later. If
the config needs to be accessable on a regular basis, presumably, people
will copy it to a safe location. If userland programs want to read the file
to get system information, (another thing which putting it in /proc would
encourage) they are broken badly (IMO).
If it is a config option to make a /proc/config file, and people have to
conciously say "yes", wouldn't it be easier to just save the file in the
first place? The build process should automatically "do the ELF thing" and
be done with it.
Finally, it is easier to get the info out of a non-running kernel if the
data is in its on segment, rather than buried in with everything else. This
is nice if I want to look at a kernel without rebooting.
Just for interest's sake, if someone does put it in the kernel image, perhaps
System.map should go in there too, both are useful for people wanting to
provide debug reports who have nuked their source trees)
If every "enhancement" for which someone said "then just make it a config
option" that I have seen in 6 months of following this list actually went
into the kernel, doing a "make config" would take about 17 hours.
Flexibility is IMO one of Linux's greatest assets, but let's not go
overboard.
===
Evan Jeffrey
erjeffre@artsci.wustl.edu
Let us go. Let us leave this festering hell hole. Let us think the
unthinkable, let us do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the
ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.
--Dirk Gently