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Re: kernel-{image,headers} package bloat



On Wed, Apr 25, 2001 at 07:33:50PM -0400, Daniel Jacobowitz wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 25, 2001 at 06:07:50PM -0400, Josh Huber wrote:
> > Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au> writes:
> > 
> > > i am, and always have been, talking about the bloated number of
> > > kernel-{image,headers} packages.
> > 
> > I have to admit, I strongly disagree with having separate packages for
> > every flavor of i386 machines.  What about the other architectures as
> > well?  Should we have versions for every revision of the Alpha?
> > powerpc too?  this seems like an incredible waste of mirror space &
> > bandwidth, and it looks like virtually every Developer here thinks
> > this is a bad idea.  I wonder why that is?
> 
> Actually, we do have equivalent kernel packages for most of the (e.g.)
> PowerPC variants.  There it is a little more necessary than here, since
> the kernels only boot on one flavor.  There'll be even more when I
> start building kernel packages on a faster machine.
> 
> Alpha is, I believe, the same way.  As is ARM, and possibly sparc...
> 
FWIW, I do compile my own kernel. That said, here's some facts:

ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-alpha/base/
shows 21! different v2.2.13 kernel-images.

ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-arm/base/
shows 1 v2.2.10 kernel-image

ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-i386/base/
shows 4 different v2.2.17 kernel-images

ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-m68k/base/
show 6 different v2.2.10 kernel-images

ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-powerpc/base/
show 3 different v2.2.15 kernel-images

ftp://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/dists/stable/main/binary-sparc/base/
show 5 different v2.2.17 kernel-images

I'm not sure why people are coming down on Herbert Xu here. If he
decides as the maintainer of the kernel-images to provide flavors for
various CPU types within the i386 family, that is his perogative, right?

Sounds like the main argument is mirror space. Now consider the 21
different v2.2.13 kernel-images available for alpha. If it were possible
to determine the percentage of people using debian on each of the 21
different flavors, then compare that to percentage of people using
different flavors of i386, then depending on the result there could be
an argument made for/against based on that kind of data.

Do alpha and the other architectures really have that many flavors of
CPU's? Are they all binary incompatible with each other, or do they have
a minimal compatibility standard (eg i386)?

Gordon Sadler




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