On Thu, Aug 02, 2007 at 08:34:00PM -0400, Douglas Allan Tutty wrote: > However, don't all those modules in the initrd end up staying in the > kernel anyway, or do they get unloaded during boot? If they stay, and > 'most' modules get added, how is that different than having a huge > monolithic kernel? It may not matter on a box with huge memory, but I > have mostly small-memory boxes. I may be wrong, but I think that only the needed modules are actually loaded. > As for xorg-video-foo, that's why I don't install the xorg metapackage. > I choose from its dependencies what I need. Same here > /rant > > There's a growing kitchen-sink approach in Debian (perhaps all of Linux, > I don't know). There's the kernel/initrd size, there's the variable > device name problems, to name two. It suggests to me that there's a > missing piece of infrastructure. Perhaps the installer system should > create a hardware inventory file that initrdtools (or whatever the > nom de jure) can access to generate a tailord initrd, that apt can > consult for what drivers to download, etc. The installer rescue mode > could offer a tool to regenerate the inventory file for times when one > changes hardware. > > /end rant True, but you have to consider the competition. If you plug a new device into a Windows machine the driver gets installed automatically or you get prompted for the drivers if Windows doesn't have them. You have to admit that this is pretty convenient functionality which has been there at least since Windows 2000 (how this is cluttering the registry and the fact that it isn't always working is a totally different topic). The big advantage on linux (and especially Debian) is that power users still have the possibility to customize the setup (like using a different mkinitrd, different options, purge unneeded packages, ...) that a Windows user doesn't have. Regards, Andrei -- If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. (Albert Einstein)
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