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Menuconfig gives the Linux kernel configuration a long needed face

lift.  Featuring text based color menus and dialogs, it does not

require X Windows.  With this utility you can easily select a kernel

option to modify without sifting through 100 other options.

Overview

--------

Some kernel features may be built directly into the kernel.

Some may be made into loadable runtime modules.  Some features

may be completely removed altogether.  There are also certain

kernel parameters which are not really features, but must be

entered in as decimal or hexadecimal numbers or possibly text.

Menu items beginning with [*],  or [ ] represent features

configured to be built in, modularized or removed respectively.

Pointed brackets <> represent module capable features.

                                                             more...

To change any of these features, highlight it with the cursor

keys and press  to build it in,  to make it a module or

 to removed it.  You may also press the  to cycle

through the available options (ie. Y->N->M->Y).

Items beginning with numbers or other text within parenthesis can

be changed by highlighting the item and pressing .  Then

enter the new parameter into the dialog box that pops up.

Some additional keyboard hints:

Menus

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o  Use the Up/Down arrow keys (cursor keys) to highlight the item

   you wish to change or submenu wish to select and press .

   Submenus are designated by "--->".

   Shortcut: Press the option's highlighted letter (hotkey).

             Pressing a hotkey more than once will sequence

             through all visible items which use that hotkey.

   You may also use the  and  keys to scroll

   unseen options into view.

o  To exit a menu use the cursor keys to highlight the  button

   and press .

   Shortcut: Press  or  or  if there is no hotkey

             using those letters.  You may press a single , but

             there is a delayed response which you may find annoying.

   Also, the  and cursor keys will cycle between ,

    and 

o  To get help with an item, use the cursor keys to highlight 

   and Press .

   Shortcut: Press  or .

Radiolists  (Choice lists)

-----------

o  Use the cursor keys to select the option you wish to set and press

    or the .

   Shortcut: Press the first letter of the option you wish to set then

             press  or .

o  To see available help for the item, use the cursor keys to highlight

    and Press .

   Shortcut: Press  or .

   Also, the  and cursor keys will cycle between  and

Data Entry

-----------

o  Enter the requested information and press 

   If you are entering hexadecimal values, it is not necessary to

   add the '0x' prefix to the entry.

o  For help, use the  or cursor keys to highlight the help option

   and press .  You can try  as well.

Text Box    (Help Window)

--------

o  Use the cursor keys to scroll up/down/left/right.  The VI editor

   keys h,j,k,l function here as do  and  for those

   who are familiar with less and lynx.

o  Press , ,  or  to exit.

Final Acceptance

----------------

With the exception of the old style sound configuration,

YOUR CHANGES ARE NOT FINAL.  You will be given a last chance to

confirm them prior to exiting Menuconfig.

If Menuconfig quits with an error while saving your configuration,

you may look in the file /usr/src/linux/.menuconfig.log for

information which may help you determine the cause.

Alternate Configuration Files

-----------------------------

Menuconfig supports the use of alternate configuration files for

those who, for various reasons, find it necessary to switch

between different kernel configurations.

At the end of the main menu you will find two options.  One is

for saving the current configuration to a file of your choosing.

The other option is for loading a previously saved alternate

configuration.

Even if you don't use alternate configuration files, but you

find during a Menuconfig session that you have completely messed

up your settings, you may use the "Load Alternate..." option to

restore your previously saved settings from ".config" without

restarting Menuconfig.

Other information

-----------------

The windowing utility, lxdialog, will only be rebuilt if your kernel

source tree is fresh, or changes are patched into it via a kernel

patch or you do 'make mrproper'.  If changes to lxdialog are patched

in, most likely the rebuild time will be short.  You may force a

complete rebuild of lxdialog by changing to it's directory and doing

'make clean all'

If you use Menuconfig in an XTERM window make sure you have your

$TERM variable set to point to a xterm definition which supports color.

Otherwise, Menuconfig will look rather bad.  Menuconfig will not

display correctly in a RXVT window because rxvt displays only one

intensity of color, bright.

Menuconfig will display larger menus on screens or xterms which are

set to display more than the standard 25 row by 80 column geometry.

In order for this to work, the "stty size" command must be able to

display the screen's current row and column geometry.  I STRONGLY

RECOMMEND that you make sure you do NOT have the shell variables

LINES and COLUMNS exported into your environment.  Some distributions

export those variables via /etc/profile.  Some ncurses programs can

become confused when those variables (LINES & COLUMNS) don't reflect

the true screen size.

NOTICE:  lxdialog requires the ncurses libraries to compile.  If you

         don't already have ncurses you really should get it.

         The makefile for lxdialog attempts to find your ncurses

         header file.  Although it should find the header for older

         versions of ncurses, it is probably a good idea to get the

         latest ncurses anyway.

         If you have upgraded your ncurses libraries, MAKE SURE you

         remove the old ncurses header files.  If you don't you

         will most certainly get a segmentation fault.

WARNING: It is not recommended that you change any defines in

         lxdialog's header files.  If you have a grayscale display and

         are brave, you may tinker with color.h to tune the colors to

         your preference.

COMPATIBILITY ISSUE:

         There have been some compatibility problems reported with

         older versions of bash and sed.  I am trying to work these

         out but it is preferable that you upgrade those utilities.

******** IMPORTANT, OPTIONAL ALTERNATE PERSONALITY AVAILABLE ********

********                                                     ********

If you prefer to have all of the kernel options listed in a single

menu, rather than the default multimenu hierarchy, you may edit the

Menuconfig script and change the line "single_menu_mode="  to

"single_menu_mode=TRUE".

This mode is not recommended unless you have a fairly fast machine.

*********************************************************************

Propaganda

----------

The windowing support utility (lxdialog) is a VERY modified version of

the dialog utility by Savio Lam .  Although lxdialog

is significantly different from dialog, I have left Savio's copyrights

intact.  Please DO NOT contact Savio with questions about lxdialog.

He will not be able to assist.

William Roadcap was the original author of Menuconfig.

Michael Elizabeth Chastain  is the current maintainer.