Re: [PATCH v3 1/2] docs: add a document about regression handling

[Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info>]

Hi! I noticed I forgot to reply here:

On 26.01.22 15:28, Geert Uytterhoeven wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 25, 2022 at 5:45 PM Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@leemhuis.info> wrote:
>> +How to create a configuration similar to the one of an older kernel?
>> +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> +
>> +Start a known-good kernel and configure the newer Linux version with ``make
>> +olddefconfig``. This makes the kernel's build scripts pick up the configuration
>> +file (the `.config` file) from the running kernel as base for the new one you
>> +are about to compile; afterwards they set all new configuration options to their
>> +default value, which should disable new features that might cause regressions.
> 
> Doing so may actually cause mutations to appear in your .config
> when going back and forth (i.e. when bisecting), interfering with
> the bisection process.

Good point, I knew about this, but hadn't thought of this when writing
the text.

> To avoid that, I usually start bisecting with
> "cp .config <src>/arch/<arch>/configs/bisect_defconfig", and use
> "make bisect_defconfig" in every bisection step. That way all steps
> are reproducible, and unaffected by config mutations.

That's a really cool trick, thx for mentioning it. But I think it's not
needed in the text about regressions and instead better be mentioned in
Documentation/admin-guide/bug-bisect.rst. I hope to sooner or later
improve (rewrite?) that document anyway and will make sure to keep it in
mind for that time.

I wonder if there is a way to make this work without messing in the
source tree? Took a quick look at the sources. It seems to me that it's
possible to "cp .config ~/working.config" and then using "make
KBUILD_DEFCONFIG=~/working.config defconfig" at every bisection step. It
seems to do the trick as well -- but I only tried briefly, so maybe I
might have missed something.

Ciao, Thorsten