SEUL: On Compiling

[Jay Bloodworth <jay@pathways.sde.state.sc.us>]

As has been pointed out, compiling the kernel is easy.  It could me made
ridiculously easy by adding a nice front end to: patch; make config; make
zlilo.  Nonetheless there are still a couple of problems with letting Joe
User recompile:

'Compile' is a scary word.  If you know nothing about computers it sounds
jargonny; if you know just enough to be dangerous it sounds ominous.  Call
it an install, call it an upgrade, call it a party in a box.  Just don't
call it a compile.  (Mac users could probably cope with it being called a
rebuild).

Compiling takes a long time.  On my P6 200 with 64MB RAM it takes over
five minutes.  On my 486/40 with 8MB of busted RAM, it took around three
hours.  While there are a few precedents for asking users to run a time
consuming task for the good of there systems (Defrag), there are not many.
We need to dress up compiling with, at a minimum, a status bar. and
encourage users to see it as an important but routine aspect of system
maintenace.


Jay


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