> Yes the kernel is obviously the most important
> to be optimised, but those who will benefit most
> from it's optimisation will probably be the sort of
> people that re-compile/update their kernel anyway.
About a year or so ago, I gave up compiling my own
kernels. After seeing how much effort Red Hat put into
their kernel (which is quite different from the stock
"Linus" kernel), I decided that it was just too much work
to:
o Try out different options and patches to optimise
performance (e.g. different VMs, pre-emption patches,
etc)
o Keep up with all the various kernel config options
(MTRRs and netlink immediately come to mind as "stuff
that I didn't fully understand and didn't want to
research just to compile a kernel _right_now_).
o Work out what options Red Hat's supplied packages
require from the kernel (netlink comes to mind here
as well)
So, now I just install Red Hat-supplied kernel RPMs. I reckon
that they can do a much better job of building a good kernel
than I can.
And note that I hack kernels in my spare time, so I'm
not afraid of compiling and understanding them. I've just
kind of given up trying to stay up-to-date with the x86
world. I prefer to spend that time trying to understand
the details of another, more interesting architecture :-)
Later,
Kenn
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