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jcastillo |
Menuconfig gives the Linux kernel configuration a long needed face
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lift. Featuring text based color menus and dialogs, it does not
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require X Windows. With this utility you can easily select a kernel
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option to modify without sifting through 100 other options.
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Overview
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--------
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Some kernel features may be built directly into the kernel.
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Some may be made into loadable runtime modules. Some features
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may be completely removed altogether. There are also certain
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kernel parameters which are not really features, but must be
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entered in as decimal or hexadecimal numbers or possibly text.
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Menu items beginning with [*], or [ ] represent features
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configured to be built in, modularized or removed respectively.
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Pointed brackets <> represent module capable features.
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more...
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To change any of these features, highlight it with the cursor
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keys and press to build it in, to make it a module or
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to removed it. You may also press the to cycle
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through the available options (ie. Y->N->M->Y).
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Items beginning with numbers or other text within parenthesis can
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be changed by highlighting the item and pressing . Then
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enter the new parameter into the dialog box that pops up.
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Some additional keyboard hints:
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Menus
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o Use the Up/Down arrow keys (cursor keys) to highlight the item
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you wish to change or submenu wish to select and press .
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Submenus are designated by "--->".
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Shortcut: Press the option's highlighted letter (hotkey).
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Pressing a hotkey more than once will sequence
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through all visible items which use that hotkey.
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You may also use the and keys to scroll
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unseen options into view.
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o To exit a menu use the cursor keys to highlight the button
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and press .
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Shortcut: Press or or if there is no hotkey
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using those letters. You may press a single , but
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there is a delayed response which you may find annoying.
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Also, the and cursor keys will cycle between
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and
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o To get help with an item, use the cursor keys to highlight
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and Press .
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Shortcut: Press or .
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Radiolists (Choice lists)
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-----------
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o Use the cursor keys to select the option you wish to set and press
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or the .
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Shortcut: Press the first letter of the option you wish to set then
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press or .
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o To see available help for the item, use the cursor keys to highlight
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and Press .
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Shortcut: Press or .
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Also, the and cursor keys will cycle between
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Data Entry
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o Enter the requested information and press
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If you are entering hexadecimal values, it is not necessary to
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add the '0x' prefix to the entry.
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o For help, use the or cursor keys to highlight the help option
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and press . You can try as well.
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Text Box (Help Window)
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--------
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o Use the cursor keys to scroll up/down/left/right. The VI editor
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keys h,j,k,l function here as do and for those
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who are familiar with less and lynx.
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o Press , , or to exit.
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Final Acceptance
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----------------
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With the exception of the old style sound configuration,
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YOUR CHANGES ARE NOT FINAL. You will be given a last chance to
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confirm them prior to exiting Menuconfig.
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If Menuconfig quits with an error while saving your configuration,
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you may look in the file /usr/src/linux/.menuconfig.log for
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information which may help you determine the cause.
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Alternate Configuration Files
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-----------------------------
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Menuconfig supports the use of alternate configuration files for
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those who, for various reasons, find it necessary to switch
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between different kernel configurations.
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At the end of the main menu you will find two options. One is
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for saving the current configuration to a file of your choosing.
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The other option is for loading a previously saved alternate
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configuration.
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Even if you don't use alternate configuration files, but you
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find during a Menuconfig session that you have completely messed
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up your settings, you may use the "Load Alternate..." option to
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restore your previously saved settings from ".config" without
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restarting Menuconfig.
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Other information
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-----------------
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The windowing utility, lxdialog, will only be rebuilt if your kernel
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source tree is fresh, or changes are patched into it via a kernel
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patch or you do 'make mrproper'. If changes to lxdialog are patched
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in, most likely the rebuild time will be short. You may force a
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complete rebuild of lxdialog by changing to it's directory and doing
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'make clean all'
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If you use Menuconfig in an XTERM window make sure you have your
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$TERM variable set to point to a xterm definition which supports color.
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Otherwise, Menuconfig will look rather bad. Menuconfig will not
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display correctly in a RXVT window because rxvt displays only one
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intensity of color, bright.
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Menuconfig will display larger menus on screens or xterms which are
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set to display more than the standard 25 row by 80 column geometry.
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In order for this to work, the "stty size" command must be able to
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display the screen's current row and column geometry. I STRONGLY
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RECOMMEND that you make sure you do NOT have the shell variables
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LINES and COLUMNS exported into your environment. Some distributions
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export those variables via /etc/profile. Some ncurses programs can
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become confused when those variables (LINES & COLUMNS) don't reflect
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the true screen size.
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NOTICE: lxdialog requires the ncurses libraries to compile. If you
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don't already have ncurses you really should get it.
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The makefile for lxdialog attempts to find your ncurses
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header file. Although it should find the header for older
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versions of ncurses, it is probably a good idea to get the
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latest ncurses anyway.
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If you have upgraded your ncurses libraries, MAKE SURE you
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remove the old ncurses header files. If you don't you
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will most certainly get a segmentation fault.
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WARNING: It is not recommended that you change any defines in
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lxdialog's header files. If you have a grayscale display and
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are brave, you may tinker with color.h to tune the colors to
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your preference.
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COMPATIBILITY ISSUE:
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There have been some compatibility problems reported with
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older versions of bash and sed. I am trying to work these
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out but it is preferable that you upgrade those utilities.
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******** IMPORTANT, OPTIONAL ALTERNATE PERSONALITY AVAILABLE ********
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******** ********
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If you prefer having all of the kernel options listed in a single
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menu rather than the default multimenu hierarchy, place the following
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line in your login scripts. (ie. .profile, .bashrc, etc...)
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export SINGLE_MENU_MODE=TRUE
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This mode is not recommended unless you have a fairly fast machine.
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*********************************************************************
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Propaganda
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----------
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The windowing support utility (lxdialog) is a VERY modified version of
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the dialog utility by Savio Lam . Although lxdialog
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is significantly different from dialog, I have left Savio's copyrights
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intact. Please DO NOT contact Savio with questions about lxdialog.
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He will not be able to assist.
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Please feel free to send any questions, comments or suggestions to
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William Roadcap .
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