Cargo Cult sysadmining

[Mikkel L. Ellertson]

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On 08/06/2012 11:29 PM, jdow wrote:
> On 2012/08/06 19:17, Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
>>
>> Disabling it because the system you are compiling the kernel for
>> will not support the hardware. No need for SATA, PCI, or cardbus
>> stuff on a system that only has PCMCIA slots for expansion. You do
>> not need the USB drivers because it does not have, USB hardware, and
>> you can not find PCMCIA USB cards. (I have a cardbus USB card, but
>> that does not help.) But this is not something most people run into.
>>
>> Compiling a kernel for a laptop will let you eliminate a lot of
>> drivers because you only have limited hardware changes...
>>
>> A server that is not going to get hardware changes.
>>
>> ...
>>
>> Mikkel
>
> Mikkel, I have done this once or twice in antediluvian days gone by.
> Then I discovered a property of Windows. If your motherboard goes
> bad and you can't replace it with an exact replacement the system and
> all other software installed on that disk are suddenly useless. (Yes,
> you can at least recover the files. But you cannot recover the
installs.)
>
> It is far better to keep the OS flexible so that on boot it adapts to
> the system you are running. The better the OS as installed on the disk
> does this the easier the effort to get up and running becomes.
>
> I may recompile the kernel these days; but, the intent of the
recompile
> is to ADD features compiled out rather than the other way around.
>
> {^_^}

The only problem with that argument is that if the hardware has
changed enough that you can not boot with your custom kernel, then
you will need a new initrd to boot with a generic kernel. So you
have to boot from some type of recovery media in any case.

It can actually be easier to fix with a custom kernel - boot from
recovery media, do a chroot, and install the latest generic kernel
RPM. Let the post install script build the new initrd.

Mikkel
- -- 
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and
taste good with Ketchup!
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