FLAME____ Why is the kernel source not included

[Gene Heskett]

On Friday 15 October 2004 19:02, Rodolfo J. Paiz wrote:
>On Fri, 2004-10-15 at 12:59 -0600, Ken Johanson wrote:
>> Wrong. Source is *no longer* being included in the install discs,
>> relegating one to searching redhat's site or prior downloading of
>> 4*650MB=2.6 Gigs or source RPMs
>
>Oh, come on... I'm no expert, and even *I* know that this...
>
># wget -c ftp://$YOURMIRROR/$PATH/kernel*rpm
>
>...will get me a small subset of files in which I am *guaranteed* to
>find the right one. Better commands (...kernel-smp*rpm) could easily
> be created for an even smaller set. If you even contemplate
> downloading the entire 2.6GB of SRPMS just to get one, you don't
> have the Clue you claim to have.
>
>> e simp
>>
>> A divergence from the point that the source is *not available*
>
>Not available on the first four disks, you mean. OK fine, I see your
>point. But:
>
That is _precisely_ the point.  Why should anyone who wants the src 
have to dl the src iso's at 670MB each until he finds the one the 
kernel srcs *might* be in.

Thats extremely counter-productive when an extra 50 megs on disk 2, or 
on the currrently 2.4GB dvd iso (see?  2.2+GB spare space left over, 
plenty of room for the kernel srcs I'd think) and the whole squawk 
becomes moot with at most an extra few minutes of dl time in the 
first place.  Of the 3 linux boxes I have here, precisely one is 
running a default fedora 2 kernel and its not this one.  The FC3T3 
dvd won't even boot on this machine, hanging on the startup of 
pcmcia.  I don't own a machine with a pcmcia slot, so why is it 
trying to start it?  Granted, this has little to do with the lack of 
readily available kernel srcs, so I'll shuddup on that subject.

>  1. If 95% of users (a guess) don't need it, then putting it on
> those disks for everyone instead of forcing 5% to wget it is an
> enormous waste of bandwidth and space.
>
>  2. And since in *most* cases you will have access to a far newer
>kernel when installing a system, wgetting a source may be even
> simpler, easier, and less work.
>
>  3. "There seems to be space on the disks to include it, so why
> not?" is a rough quote from a previous post of yours. Isn't that
> what got us to FOUR DISKS of stuff to download in the first place?
>
>I can see why you would resent the inconvenience to you of moving
> the kernel source to a SRPM and to another disk. Fine. But from
> there to your rant about its being "not available" as though it had
> been entirely withheld from you and the constitution is being
> burned in effigy, well... that's a far cry and smacks of
> fearmongering.
>
>Just download the four binary CD's and issue one additional wget
>command... what is so god-awful hard about that?
>
>Cheers,

-- 
Cheers, Gene
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Copyright 2004 by Maurice Eugene Heskett, all rights reserved.