Re: [tlug] Super long compile times

[Jonathan Byrne <jq@example.com>]

Thanks for more reasons to despise Mandrake :-)

On Tue, Aug 26, 2003 at 10:53:04AM +0200, Godwin Stewart wrote:

>Now look do a google search on the "Boulder Pledge". I took that pledge a
>while back.

I like it.  I think many of us already hold to what is set forth
in the Boulder Pledge.  The pledge makes it very clear and concise:

"Under no circumstances will I ever purchase anything offered to me as
the result of an unsolicited e-mail message. Nor will I forward chain
letters, petitions, mass mailings, or virus warnings to large numbers of
others. This is my contribution to the survival of the online community." 

When last observed, my family Mandrake victim was installing Red Hat
9 to try it out.  I wouldn't want to go there from here (Debian), but
it's a step in the right direction from Mandrake.  Like you said, the
RH kernel may also be heavily patched (until any resemblance between it
and the original kernel sources is purely coincidental?), but at least
it's heavily patched by good kernel programmers.

Oooooh!  Here's another Reason to Despise Mandrake (TM).  The kernel
that he rebuilt was from the 2.4.22 source RPM out of Mandrake Cooker
(or Hooker, as I like to call it).  I suggested the source build b/c
the binary RPM was setting off a huge dependency tree.  After the 
compile, it still called one dependency: bootloader-utils.  So I 
said "OK, who needs that?  Just install it with --nodeps."  No dice.
During the install process it wanted to call a program provided by
bootloader-utils, and there was no getting around that.  So, get the
source RPM for bootloader-utils, build it, install it.  Install the
kernel.  Oops.  The kernel install called up the program from bootloader
utils and crapped on the MBR without so much as a by-your-leave. 

So, what had been a GRUB MBR (installed that way) was no transmogrified
into LILO.  Great.

Now, it is not wrong in principal to have a utility that will update
your bootloader for you when you install a new kernel.  However, it
is very wrong in practice to do so without either asking permission
of the user, or checking to see if the bootloader it wants to put in
is the right one.

Compare that to Debian.  If you build a new kernel-package on Debian and
install it, at the end of the process you are asked two questions:

- Would you like to create a boot floppy now? [No]
- Do you wish to set up Linux to boot from the hard disk? [Yes]

The default answer to the second one is Yes, but I always choose No
because I replaced LILO with GRUB on this machine and don't want it
crapped on.  Debian, in their infinite common sense, asks me before doing
something that could screw up my system.  Mandrake, in its infinite 
wisdom, just goes ahead and does it.

That "feature" is new in the 9.2 beta series.  Those who are running
9.1 are safe, unless you update with some packages from Cooker.  The
2.4.22 RPM in Cooker will pull in bootloader-utils (and lots more),
and will stomp on your MBR.  If you're using LILO, no big deal (probably).
If you're using GRUB, then it's a big deal.  Build  your own kernel and
manually install it, don't rebuild the Mandrake source RPM.

Or, just go grab a Debian or FreeBSD install image :-)

Jonathan
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