The two-tiered defconfig / .config scheme was specifically implemented so
that your local patches don't make the kernel you just configured
unpatchable.
> Don't assume that just because there is no .config, there is no old
> configuration.
On the contrary. The reasonable way to supply old config to a new kernel is
to copy .config from old to new, and then run "make oldconfig". I don't
know why you would want to replace defconfig.
I also don't know why you would want to run "make mrproper" before
compiling a new kernel. "make clean" should be sufficient. (In theory,
"touch config.h" should be sufficient.) If not, that's a bug in the
Makefiles.
It's too bad, by the way, that "make -t" doesn't work right -- too many
targets are not marked as phony.
-- "So, do you live around here often?" -- Steve Wright-- Matthias Urlichs