Messages in this thread | | | From | "Nicholas J. Leon" <> | Date | Thu, 18 Apr 1996 10:14:20 -0400 | Subject | Kernel Database [take 2] |
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Folks -
Yesterday I posted my announcement (and patch) for my Kernel Database. Over the next 10 hours or so, I received somewhere between 100-120 hits on my page, but only two entries into the database.
I realize that the page isn't pretty and doesn't give a lot of analysis, but that's simply because I haven't had the time to work on the output.
The database itself is keeping track of quite a few things. It measures:
- The kernels that are being used to compile others - The versions of GCC that are being used and on what kenels - How frequently people upgrade their kernels (taken from the email address and what kernels they've registered) - The low/average/high "jumps" people make between kernels - The architecture of the machines running Linux - The number of (unique) people participating
And some information on certain drivers/options:
- SCSI vs. IDE vs. both - Modularization vs. compiled-in
Now some of this information is taken at "face-value". For example, to determine the size of a "jump" between kernel versions, the program takes the kernel version from "uname" and/or the last registered kernel from the same email address.
As I said, unfortunately the only side of this that you are seeing right now is the web page, and it's easily the worst one. I hope to have all that corrected this weekend.
The patch itself I thought was fairly non-intrusive, touching only the Makefile, scripts/Configure (to add a notice) and add the file Documentation/kerneldb.txt.
When I wrote the Makefile patch, I tried to used a few tools as possible (being scared of different permutations of people's systems). I plan, however, to change that a bit and provide a little more information. Luckily, when I wrote the original, I used field delimiters to mark different areas; so now I can expand that easily. One of the areas I plan to add is a marker to distinguish between "test" kernels and "standard use" ones. That way we could also keep track of whats being tested (and by whom) and how often.
I know that Linus (hi!) has (once again) put a feature freeze on the kernel, but I was hoping to sneak this in anyway. I thought that including this in the (early) production kernels would provide the largest audience of people and therefore the most accurate database. Additionally, it's not a feature :)
So there you go. I hope that everyone will participate in this, it's the only way we can build an accurate database. Also, please don't take the simple output as measure of the entire project, I like to feel it's more advanced than that.
As always, questions/comments are welcome.
N! __________________________________________________________________________ Nicholas J. Leon (pgp/finger) nicholas@binary9.net Shinanyaku on Kali:Central descent2/warcraft2 Technical Development, Wachovia Bank real job!
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