Re: [gentoo-user] Problem with "make oldconfig" 2.6.30-8 ==> 2.6.31

[Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@gmail.com>]

On Wednesday 10 March 2010 15:22:41 Tanstaafl wrote:
> On 2010-03-09 8:36 PM, Walter Dnes wrote:
> > Today is when running a lilo menu with "production" and "experimental"
> > kernels saved me.  "production" is 2.6.30-r8.  "experimental" is
> > 2.6.31-r6 or 2.6.31-r10 (same problems with either one).  I set
> > /usr/src/linux to point at 2.6.31-r6 (or 10), copied .config from
> > 2.6.30-r8 and ran "make oldconfig".
> 
> I *never* use make oldconfig between major kernel versions...

A major kernel upgrade is from 2.6 to 2.7

2.6.30 to 2.6.31 is a small incremental upgrade and
2.6.30.1 to 2.6.30.2 is a bug fix

Common sense tells me that you will forget something important using your 
method much more often than oldconfig will trip over a new option (eg the pata 
shuffle about 2 years ago)

> I do as the kernel upgrade guide says - when going between major
> versions (yes, even one), copy the old .config to the new kernel dir,
> then run make menuconfig, and make sure all of your critical options are
> set. This is much safer, though it does take more time.

Well, that guide is someone's opinion. It is not a technical fact.

I write wiki pages that seem to be to be 100% spot on and the best advice 
ever. But some of my colleagues ignore it and do it their way. Stuff they do 
does not break.



-- 
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com