Commit ee86418d authored by Nick Andrew's avatar Nick Andrew Committed by Jens Axboe
Browse files

Kconfig: clean up block/Kconfig help descriptions 



Modify the help descriptions of block/Kconfig for clarity, accuracy and
consistency.

Refactor the BLOCK description a bit.  The wording "This permits ...  to be
removed" isn't quite right; the block layer is removed when the option is
disabled, whereas most descriptions talk about what happens when the option is
enabled.  Reformat the list of what is affected by disabling the block layer.

Add more examples of large block devices to LBD and strive for technical
accuracy; block devices of size _exactly_ 2TB require CONFIG_LBD, not only
"bigger than 2TB".  Also try to say (perhaps not very clearly) that the config
option is only needed when you want to have individual block devices of size
>= 2TB, for example if you had 3 x 1TB disks in your computer you'd have a
total storage size of 3TB but you wouldn't need the option unless you want to
aggregate those disks into a RAID or LVM.

Improve terminology and grammar on BLK_DEV_IO_TRACE.

I also added the boilerplate "If unsure, say N" to most options.

Precisely say "2TB and larger" for LSF.

Indent the help text for BLK_DEV_BSG by 2 spaces in accordance with the
standard.

Signed-off-by: default avatarNick Andrew <nick@nick-andrew.net>
Cc: "Randy.Dunlap" <rdunlap@xenotime.net>
Signed-off-by: default avatarAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: default avatarJens Axboe <jens.axboe@oracle.com>
parent 6195057f

block/Kconfig

+42 −23
Original line number Diff line number Diff line
@@ -5,14 +5,18 @@ menuconfig BLOCK 
       bool "Enable the block layer" if EMBEDDED

       default y

       help

	 This permits the block layer to be removed from the kernel if it's not

	 needed (on some embedded devices for example).  If this option is

	 disabled, then blockdev files will become unusable and some

	 filesystems (such as ext3) will become unavailable.

	 Provide block layer support for the kernel.



	 This option will also disable SCSI character devices and USB storage

	 since they make use of various block layer definitions and

	 facilities.

	 Disable this option to remove the block layer support from the

	 kernel. This may be useful for embedded devices.



	 If this option is disabled:



	   - block device files will become unusable

	   - some filesystems (such as ext3) will become unavailable.



	 Also, SCSI character devices and USB storage will be disabled since

	 they make use of various block layer definitions and facilities.



	 Say Y here unless you know you really don't want to mount disks and

	 suchlike.
@@ -23,9 +27,20 @@ config LBD 
	bool "Support for Large Block Devices"

	depends on !64BIT

	help

	  Say Y here if you want to attach large (bigger than 2TB) discs to

	  your machine, or if you want to have a raid or loopback device

	  bigger than 2TB.  Otherwise say N.

	  Enable block devices of size 2TB and larger.



	  This option is required to support the full capacity of large

	  (2TB+) block devices, including RAID, disk, Network Block Device,

	  Logical Volume Manager (LVM) and loopback.



	  For example, RAID devices are frequently bigger than the capacity

	  of the largest individual hard drive.



	  This option is not required if you have individual disk drives

	  which total 2TB+ and you are not aggregating the capacity into

	  a large block device (e.g. using RAID or LVM).



	  If unsure, say N.



config BLK_DEV_IO_TRACE

	bool "Support for tracing block io actions"
@@ -33,19 +48,21 @@ config BLK_DEV_IO_TRACE 
	select RELAY

	select DEBUG_FS

	help

	  Say Y here, if you want to be able to trace the block layer actions

	  Say Y here if you want to be able to trace the block layer actions

	  on a given queue. Tracing allows you to see any traffic happening

	  on a block device queue. For more information (and the userspace

	  support tools needed), fetch the blktrace app from:

	  support tools needed), fetch the blktrace tools from:



	  git://git.kernel.dk/blktrace.git



	  If unsure, say N.



config LSF

	bool "Support for Large Single Files"

	depends on !64BIT

	help

	  Say Y here if you want to be able to handle very large files (bigger

	  than 2TB), otherwise say N.

	  Say Y here if you want to be able to handle very large files (2TB

	  and larger), otherwise say N.



	  If unsure, say Y.
@@ -62,6 +79,8 @@ config BLK_DEV_BSG 
	  protocols (e.g. Task Management Functions and SMP in Serial

	  Attached SCSI).



	  If unsure, say N.



endif # BLOCK



config BLOCK_COMPAT

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