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From: mayd@chrysanthemum.cygnus.uwa.edu.au(David May)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: XTERM Problems
Date: 2 Jun 1997 04:35:04 GMT
Organization: The University of Western Australia
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In article <01bc6e88$857e8440$f3e94dc2@hugo09.ticsoft.de>,
"Patrick M. Hausen" <hausen@punkt.de> writes:
>
> Nope. It's absolutely essential for the GENERIC kernel to boot on the
> widest range of machines possible, to enable people to _install_
> FreeBSD in the first place.
The kernel run during installation is not the same as the final installed
kernel. It is a special purpose kernel for installing - that is why you build
a boot floppy (in most cases).
> After installation's complete, you're supposed to build your own kernel
> anyway.
That is not a valid reason why a pre-built kernel cannot be include in
FreeBSD binary distributions.
My point is that most people do not or cannot and should not have to build
a custom kernel to run an ordinary desktop machine. Think about it. Forcing
most users to have to learn to build kernels just to use an ordinary desktop
machine is silly. Why make things more complex than than they need to be?
And what about fault isolation? When an installation goes wrong the fact
that the kernel was custom-built adds more complexity to the problem.
And what about testing? If a kernel is custom-built it needs be tested
before it can be trusted for production use.
--
David May email: mayd@cygnus.uwa.edu.au
phone: +61 41 216 8967