Advantages of trimmed kernel?

[Lane]

On Sunday 10 December 2006 09:05, Kirk Strauser wrote:
> Are there any real advantages to building a kernel stripped of unused
> drivers, especially when running it on a fairly large machine?  For years,
> I've been dutifully removing device drivers (or more recently, including
> GENERIC and using 'nodevice') for everything I don't have.  But does this
> actually do anything useful, or am I just tilting at windmills?
>
> I know the definitive answer would be to run benchmarks both ways, but I
> don't really have the option of pulling down a production machine just for
> this.
Kirk,

I don't expect there is only one answer to  your question.  The issue is 
broader, I think, than just the relative speed and performance improvements 
achieved by running a lean kernel.

You say that you can't afford to take a production machine down, but consider 
this:  What if you trimmed all of the "fat" from the kernel on a server, and 
then the server's nic goes bad.  Suppose that as a stop-gap measure you pull 
an old isa nic from out of the closet, install it, and then boot the 
server ... only to realize that your nic is not supported by the kernel that 
you dutifully trimmed.

I think it is especially important to keep the kernel as flexible as possible, 
since you may have to install the OS on any given machine without the luxury 
of recompiling.

Just my .02

lane