I'm stumped. Or at least a little disgruntled.
Several months ago I made an innocuous comment about maintaining a
mail-in database of people's various kernel configurations ( yes, I'm
going to talk about that again ) and when I did, I got a flood of
messages, numbering around 30, supporting my idea. This was back when
the thread of talking about removing the ext file-system ( remember? )
Anyway, I finally got my butt out of my chair and set to produce just
what I talked about.
Well, now that I have created my patch, written about 1000 lines of
Perl, created a web page and posted the information, nothing is
happening.
I half want to sit here and rant about it, but as the old saying goes
"You get more flies with honey than vinegar." So instead I'll ask
this: what will it take for people to participate in this endeavour? I
thought that this would be something mutually beneficial to everyone
involved in kernel development, but perhaps I am wrong.
If I am, then I am at a loss. I've been monitoring kernel development
for quite a long time. Easily 75% of what goes on is beyond me, but
that's "OK"; I'm learning, albeit slowly. So when I saw the
opportunity to do something meaningful that was within my skill range,
I got excited and wanted to do it. And from what other people have
said to me directly, this was a Good Thing. Well, even those people
haven't participated; so I'm left to believe that I have made a
mistake someplace: either in ettiquete <sp!> or in my patch itself.
So in the interest of Getting Things to Work, I'll just blurb out a
general question: What do I need to do?
For those of you interested, below is my original post:
Shin!
__________________________________________________________________________
Another Mailing List personality of Nicholas J. Leon shin@binary9.net
Linux Kernel Database [http://www.binary9.net/nicholas/kerneldb.html]
Folks -
I have created the following patch. It allows people to mail their
current configation into me where I will maintain a database of the
information.
You have view the (now very simple) database at
http://www.binary9.net/nicholas/kerneldb.html
Many thanx and any thoughts/input are welcome!
N!
__________________________________________________________________________
Nicholas J. Leon (pgp/finger) nicholas@binary9.net
Shinanyaku on Kali:Central descent2/warcraft2
Technical Development, Wachovia Bank real job!
diff -u --recursive --new-file linux/Documentation/kerneldb.txt linux.new/Documentation/kerneldb.txt
--- linux/Documentation/kerneldb.txt Wed Dec 31 19:00:00 1969
+++ linux.new/Documentation/kerneldb.txt Wed Apr 17 12:46:01 1996
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+Kernel Database
+---------------
+
+A couple of weeks ago there was some talk on the various lists about
+maintaining a database of what everyone configuration is; so that we
+could see what drivers and such are (or are not) being used.
+
+In response to this, I came up with "mailconfig", which has been
+patched into the top level Makefile.
+
+After you successfully configure your system with "make config", you
+can follow that up with a "make mailconfig" which will take a (very)
+small snapshot of your system (uname, gcc -v, .config) and mail it to
+me. I have a Perl script sitting on this side that will take that
+information and enter it into a database.
+
+You can view the (simple) contents of the database at any time by
+pointing your favorite web browser at
+
+ http://www.binary9.net/nicholas/kerneldb.html
+
+As time progress I will be adding more analsys to my scripts, but
+until then you can get the basic information.
+
+If you are unable to get the "make mailconfig" to actually mail me the
+info, you can hand-send it by mailing me the contents of the
+"linux/.mailconfig" file that was created when you "make
+mailconfig"'ed.
+
+Please, any comments or questions are welcome.
+
+
+Nicholas J. Leon
+nicholas@binary9.net
+4/17/96
diff -u --recursive --new-file linux/Makefile linux.new/Makefile
--- linux/Makefile Wed Apr 17 10:52:34 1996
+++ linux.new/Makefile Wed Apr 17 12:51:29 1996
@@ -325,6 +325,7 @@
rm -f .hdepend
rm -f $(TOPDIR)/include/linux/modversions.h
rm -f $(TOPDIR)/include/linux/modules/*
+ rm -f .mailconfig
distclean: mrproper
@@ -343,6 +344,18 @@
$(AWK) -f scripts/depend.awk init/*.c > .tmpdepend
set -e; for i in $(SUBDIRS); do $(MAKE) -C $$i fastdep; done
mv .tmpdepend .depend
+
+mailconfig:
+ rm -f .mailconfig
+ echo -- kernel >> .mailconfig
+ echo $(VERSION).$(PATCHLEVEL).$(SUBLEVEL) >> .mailconfig
+ echo -- uname >> .mailconfig
+ uname -a >> .mailconfig
+ echo -- cc >> .mailconfig
+ gcc -v 2>> .mailconfig
+ echo -- .config >> .mailconfig
+ cat .config >> .mailconfig
+ mail kerneldb@binary9.net -s 'kernel update' < .mailconfig
MODVERFILE :=
diff -u --recursive --new-file linux/scripts/Configure linux.new/scripts/Configure
--- linux/scripts/Configure Mon Mar 25 01:58:28 1996
+++ linux.new/scripts/Configure Wed Apr 17 11:00:37 1996
@@ -468,5 +468,10 @@
echo "and do a 'make dep ; make clean' if you want to be sure all"
echo "the files are correctly re-made"
echo
-
+echo "If you wish to submit your configuration to the Kernel"
+echo "Database (for statistical reasons), type 'make mailconfig'."
+echo "If you do not have a standard mail configuration, you may"
+echo "mail the file 'linux/.mailconfig' to 'kerneldb@binary9.net'"
+echo "manually. This file is created when you 'make mailconfig'."
+echo
exit 0