Re: [PATCH] make CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL invisible and default

[Serge Hallyn]

Quoting Paul E. McKenney (paulmck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx):
> On Tue, Oct 02, 2012 at 12:50:42PM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> > This config item has not carried much meaning for a while now and is
> > almost always enabled by default. As agreed during the Linux kernel
> > summit, it should be removed. As a first step, remove it from being
> > listed, and default it to on. Once it has been removed from all
> > subsystem Kconfigs, it will be dropped entirely.
> > 
> > CC: Greg KH <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > CC: "Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > CC: Serge Hallyn <serge.hallyn@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > CC: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > CC: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > CC: Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@xxxxxxxxx>
> > Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > ---
> > 
> > This is the first of a series of 202 patches removing EXPERIMENTAL from
> > all the Kconfigs in the tree. Should I send them all to lkml (with all
> > the associated CCs), or do people want to cherry-pick changes from my
> > tree? I don't want to needlessly flood the list.
> > 
> > http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/kees/linux.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/experimental
> > 
> > I figure this patch can stand alone to at least make EXPERIMENTAL go
> > away from the menus, and give us a taste of what the removal would do
> > to builds.
> 
> OK, I will bite...  How should I flag an option that is initially only
> intended for those willing to take some level of risk?

Sadly, the point is that EXPERIMENTAL is enabled in all distros and by
most users, so you *could* flag your feature CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL, but
the only thing taht might accomplish is making you feel ok to be less
careful.

Of course, an alternative to this patch would be a purging - pull
the CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL tag from all options which anyone might be
wanting to use by default.  Then let CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL serve its
original purpose.

-serge
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