[Tfug] linux no longer for amateurs

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Steve,

--- On Mon, 2/15/10, Steve Franks <bahamasfranks at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Steve Franks <bahamasfranks at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Tfug] linux no longer for amateurs
> To: "Tucson Free Unix Group" <tfug at tfug.org>
> Date: Monday, February 15, 2010, 11:05 AM
> > Under the *BSD's, there is an option to store a TEXT image
> > of the config file *in* the built kernel (assuming you
> > accidentally delete ./config/KERNELNAME).  This is a win
> > as it just adds a few KB to the kernel but gives you an easy
> > way to recreate the config file *from* a built kernel.
> 
> And where would one grep that option?  I intend to
> turn it on on my systems....

options INCLUDE_CONFIG_FILE

There is a "right" way to extract the config file from the
resulting kernel -- but, I always just use strings(1) and
manually remove the cruft before and after (easier than
remembering another incantation :> ).

Note that this includes the config file *literally*.
I.e., even your commentary!  So, if you are like me and add
lots of comments, your kernel size will increase accordingly.

In my case, this is especially significant as I often leave
"unwanted devices and options" *in* the config file and
just comment them out.  This makes it easy for me to
add them back *in* -- but it also means lots of crufty
comments in the kernel image that really don't do anything.

<shrug>