Re: SEUL: Auto-compilation/Is it possible ?

[Erik Walthinsen <omega@aracnet.com>]

> People using their computers at home do not let their computers
> powered during the night.   They pay the bills.

Seems as if everyone is missing my point.  `make zImage` is *interruptible*.
That means that if the computer gets shut down during the processes (which 
should happen cleanly, anyway), we just start it up again next boot.


> Building a kernel takes 12 minutes on a P75.  So put an OPTIMIZE
> KERNEL entry in the root menus and if clicked present the user with a
> simplified version of xconfig: CPU can be autodetected (well Intel
> CPUs) and we will be using modules, so the only choices the user will
> have to do would be about non-modular, non-autodetectable things.

Not good.  If we have an 'optimize kernel' menu item, it 1) portrays an image 
we don't really want, and 2) isn't efficient.

1) doze* has to do these things in foreground because it has very little
choice in the matter, given it's structure.  If we start doing things in the
foreground that we don't have to, we start to look like M$ 'OS's.

It also has the side effect of making people think that what they're running 
*isn't* fast.  It *is* fast, it's just a few percent slower than what they
probably could get with a new kernel, depending on the hardware.

2) I'm not talking about efficiency for the computer, I'm talking about the 
user.  A user is going to put off 'optimizing' the kernel because it takes 
time.  The definition of a user is 'someone who uses a computer', not 
'someone who watches as the computer does stuff'.

If we can put the kernel build in the background, where it can complete
happily whenever it can without impacting the user, we achieve the goal of 
being easy to use *and* be efficient with the given resources.

TTYAL,
     Omega

        Erik Walthinsen - Programmer, webmaster, 3D artist, etc.   __
  __                                                              / /\
 /  \           omega@sequent.com         Work: (503)578-5314    / /  \
|    | M E G A  omega@aracnet.com         Home: (503)281-4281   / / /\ \
_\  /_          psu12113@odin.cc.pdx.edu  Majoring in CS       / / /\ \ \
                                                              / /_/__\ \ \
Omega Station: http://www.aracnet.com/~omega/                /________\ \ \
     Info on Linux, Graphics, Descent, Laptops, etc.         \___________\/


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