[Fwd: What do people think about not installing a stripped /kernel ?]

[Giorgos Keramidas]

On 2004-10-20 17:57, Maxim Sobolev <sobomax at freebsd.org> wrote:
> : Subject: What do people think about not installing a stripped /kernel ?
> : Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 15:12:00 -0700 (PDT)
> : From: Matthew Dillon <dillon at apollo.backplane.com>
> : Newsgroups: dragonfly.kernel
> :
> : The only cost is disk space... e.g. 3MB stripped kernel verses 16MB
> : debug kernel.  But the debug info isn't actually loaded into memory so
> : the kernel load time and memory overhead is the same as with the stripped
> : version.
> :
> : The issue is bug reports and kernel core dumps.  I can't count the number
> : of times I have had to carefully instruct people to retrieve their
> : kernel.debug's for bug reporting purposes.  And even my own debugging
> : would be more convenient if I didn't have to save off a separate copy of
> : the debug version of the kernel.
> :
> : What I'm thinking of doing is having the installkernel target install the
> : debug version rather then the stripped version unless told to install
> : the stripped version with a new option, e.g. 'options INSTALL_STRIPPED'.
> : We would ship full debug GENERIC kernels instead of stripped kernels.
> : i.e. we aren't getting rid of the ability to install a stripped kernel,
> : we just aren't making it the default any more.
> :
> : What do people think?
>
> I think that this is good idea which can be adapted for our 6-CURRENT as
> well. Disk space is so damn cheap today....

Putting aside the colorful arguments about the exact name of the knob, I say
this is a very good idea.  Disk space is indeed cheap these days.  For those
cases where disk space usage matters a lot, a simple setting in `make.conf'
might solve whatever seems a problem.

In all the machines that I have installed 6.X the size of the root partition
is more than 300 MB these days, which can hold at least 2-3 different kernels.
The euros/GB price of disks in Patras, Greece, where I live range from 0.43 to
1.12 euros:

	DESCRIPTION                           | SIZE |  PRICE | EURO/GB
	--------------------------------------+------+--------+--------
	WESTERN DIGITAL  7200rpm, 8MB buffer  |  200 |  85.90 |    0.43
	SEAGATE          7200rpm, 8MB buffer  |  160 |  80.00 |    0.50
	SEAGATE          7200rpm, 8MB buffer  |  200 |  99.90 |    0.50
	WESTERN DIGITAL  7200rpm, 8MB buffer  |  120 |  64.50 |    0.54
	EXCELSTORE       7200rpm, 2MB buffer  |   80 |  43.90 |    0.55
	WESTERN DIGITAL  7200rpm, 8MB buffer  |  250 | 140.90 |    0.56
	WESTERN DIGITAL  7200rpm, 2MB buffer  |   80 |  45.90 |    0.57
	MAXTOR           7200rpm, 8MB buffer  |  200 | 116.00 |    0.58
	SEAGATE          7200rpm, 8MB buffer  |  120 |  72.00 |    0.60
	MAXTOR           7200rpm, 8MB buffer  |  160 |  99.00 |    0.62
	SAMSUNG          7200rpm, 2MB buffer  |   80 |  50.50 |    0.63
	SEAGATE          7200rpm, 2MB buffer  |   80 |  50.90 |    0.64
	WESTERN DIGITAL  7200rpm, 8MB buffer  |   80 |  51.50 |    0.64
	MAXTOR           7200rpm, 8MB buffer  |  120 |  89.00 |    0.74
	MAXTOR           7200rpm, 16MB buffer |  250 | 189.00 |    0.76
	MAXTOR           7200rpm, 16MB buffer |  300 | 229.00 |    0.76
	EXCELSTORE       7200rpm, 2MB buffer  |   40 |  39.90 |    1.00
	WESTERN DIGITAL  7200rpm, 2MB buffer  |   40 |  40.50 |    1.01
	SAMSUNG          7200rpm, 2MB buffer  |   40 |  41.90 |    1.05
	WESTERN DIGITAL  7200rpm, 8MB buffer  |   40 |  43.50 |    1.09
	SEAGATE          7200rpm, 2MB buffer  |   40 |  44.90 |    1.12

	# Data obtained from the online store of http://www.plaisio.gr
	# a couple of minutes ago.

That's not just cheap.  It's dirt cheap, if you ask me.  Bearing this in mind,
saving a little space in /boot/kernel is hardly worth the effort and the
trouble one has to go through in order to locate or compile a debugging kernel
when a bug creeps up.

- Giorgos