Bug#613321: linux-image-amd64: Please enable 'memtest' option for all linux kernels
On Thu, Dec 01, 2011 at 06:09:03AM -0600, Jonathan Nieder wrote:
> Dmitry Smirnov wrote:
>
> > It is probably obvious to everyone that MEMTEST is harmless.
> > Then why not enable it without painful discussions?
>
> Having a feature enabled in the Debian kernel (at release time) is a
> promise to continue supporting it for the period in which that release
> is supported. It seems perfectly sane to me that the kernel
> maintainers might apply their own taste in deciding whether it is
> worth doing so.
>
> (Kernel image size is also a consideration, though probably not a
> major worry in this particular example.)
>
> [...]
> > If just few requests for a feature is not enough to convince that we need it,
> > how many people should ask, exactly, in order to make the change?
>
> One reliable contributor. Or just describe a use case that makes it a
> compelling addition to Debian. (Since there is already a memtest86+
> package, "replacing memtest86+" isn't one.)
If I understood correctly the usecase is a bit different from
memtest86+. With the latter you have a test case to determine if your
RAM is bad (or not). With the memtest kernel option memory is tested
before it's given out to kmalloc. So it is able in some cases to just
not give out bad parts of RAM allowing to use RAM that is a bit broken.
Having said that I don't know if it's sensible to add to Debian as I
didn't test runtime and binary size overhead.
Best regards
Uwe
--
Pengutronix e.K. | Uwe Kleine-König |
Industrial Linux Solutions | http://www.pengutronix.de/ |
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