Re: kernel-{image,headers} package bloat

[Herbert Xu <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>]

On Wed, Apr 25, 2001 at 08:27:18PM -0400, Josh Huber wrote:
> 
> Yes, which is different -- we have 4 kernel-image packages for

I'm open to suggestions as to which of the images can be dropped.

As far as I can see, there are two arguments against the present organisation
on i386:

1. The kernel images provide no/little benefit for our users.

2. The kernel images impose a strain on the mirrors that we can do without.

1 is a matter of opinion, and one which I do not agree with.

I do understand that everyone is operating under constrained resources.  So
I'm always on the lookout for images that have little use or images that
can be merged.  In particular, pentium4 will go in the next release as
there is very little demand for it, and for those who actually have it,
I doubt compiling the kernel is very time consuming [1].

This will bring the number of images down to 7, or in terms of size, about
70MB.

I'm willing to further reduce that to as little as 3 with the removal of
586/586tsc/k6/k7.  However, I would like to see concrete evidence from
mirror operators that this 40M poses a significant problem for them before
I take this route as except k7, the three flavours take significant to
compile on their respective hosts.  I won't go below that as an SMP kernel
is always required, and the 686 flavour covers a very large chunk of the
i386 userbase.

As to the kernels on the alpha architecture which I also maintain, I have
no plans whatsoever to go down this optimisation route as there simply
aren't enough users to justify the costs involved.  It is also the case
that I simply to have an Alpha box that's sexy enough to do this :)

I cannot comment about the kernel maintainers on other architectures of
course.  But I'm sure they will make the most sensible decisions for them.

[1] The point of this exercise is not to make it easier for people who don't
know how to compile kernels to be able to use optimised kernels.  It is
for those who don't have a grunty box to keep up with the them.
-- 
Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 is out! ( http://www.debian.org/ )
Email:  Herbert Xu ~{PmV>HI~} <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>
Home Page: http://gondor.apana.org.au/~herbert/
PGP Key: http://gondor.apana.org.au/~herbert/pubkey.txt