Re: Non-intuitive kernel config change
Jim Nicholson wrote:
>
> I just upgraded to hamm, and with that I moved from a hand-patched
> 2.0.30 kernel to kernel-source-2.0.34. I made a kernel package and
> installed it, only to discover that the ISO 9660 file system was not
> built, because I didn't compile in NLS support.
>
> This is made particularly tricky by "make menuconfig", since the
> dialog-based menus don't even show the ISO 9660 file system as an
> option UNLESS you ask for NLS support. So it's non-intuitive, from my
> perspective. It took me some time to find out the proper menu options
> I needed (actually, I was about to post a bug, but then I searched for
> bugs against kernel-source-2.0.34 and discovered a rejected patch from
> someone who had the same problem with FAT fs support.
Debian could only send a request upstream. Perhaps we would be better
served to document this?
>
> I've got a few questions about this:
>
> - Why is NLS required for a kernel that supports FAT and ISO? I ask
> this mostly out of ignorance; it's been a long time since I used
> DOS, but I never remember having to do anything special
> codepage-wise to get CDROMs to work.
NLS stands for National Language Support. iso9660 and FAT use this w/
code pages to support multiple languages. By supporting this we aer
supporting non-english DOS/Windows users. I do agree that the
menuconfig is confusing though.
>
> - Why does menuconfig work this way? From my perspective, it's
> backward. It would seem to me more logical to prompt for the ISO
> and/or FAT fs, and then indicate that the NLS was being
> included. (This is consistent with other things in the kernel
> config; the one that leaps to mind is IP masquerading, where the
> config automatically builds module versions of the various
> masquerade shims if you enable the masquerading feature.)
>
The NLS code is newer and hence, less trusted. So that is part of why
it works that way.
> - Does the "non-SCSI/IDE/ATAPI CDROM support" logic in the kernel
> config force the appropriate options for ISO support? Perhaps there
> should be an option under "CD-ROM Drivers" that selects support for
> SCSI/IDE/ATAPI drives, and have that one force all the various
> support options as well.
>
No it does not
> - Can someone give a reason why one would want to generate a kernel
> with CDROM support that *didn't* have ISO 9660 support? Other than
> the fact that the fs code isn't required to play audio CDs?
>
> - Jim
non iso formatted CD's? (I am not aware of them but I believe they
exist).
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