[Haifux] No! No! Don't compile your kernel!

[Nadav Har'El]

On Sun, Jan 23, 2011, Eli Billauer wrote about "[Haifux] No! No! Don't compile your kernel!":
> Yet another sign that Linux is turning into a don't-touch-me kind of 
> system. How many times did they tell me I don't really want to compile 
> my kernel?
> http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Custom_Kernel

When was the last time you compiled gcc on your own? When was the last time
you compiled the X Window System? For me, the answers to both questions is
1995. If you answered similarly (or even, "never"), why should the kernel be
any different - i.e., why do you need to compile a kernel unless you're a
kernel developer (and 99.9% of Linux users aren't)?

Before Linux had modules, you often needed to recompile the kernel to add
new hardware. With the advent of kernel modules (in Linux 1.2 in 1995...),
this is no longer the case. So really, why *would* you want to recompile the
kernel, unless you are a kernel developer, i.e., modifying the kernel?

-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |      Sunday, Jan 23 2011, 19 Shevat 5771
nyh at math.technion.ac.il             |-----------------------------------------
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