| 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 [*], <M> 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 <Y> to build it in, <M> to make it a module or | |
| <N> to removed it. You may also press the <Space Bar> 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 <Enter>. Then | |
| enter the new parameter into the dialog box that pops up. | |
| Some additional keyboard hints: | |
| Menus | |
| ---------- | |
| o Use the Up/Down arrow keys (cursor keys) to highlight the item | |
| you wish to change or submenu wish to select and press <Enter>. | |
| 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 <PAGE UP> and <PAGE DOWN> keys to scroll | |
| unseen options into view. | |
| o To exit a menu use the cursor keys to highlight the <Exit> button | |
| and press <ENTER>. | |
| Shortcut: Press <ESC><ESC> or <E> or <X> if there is no hotkey | |
| using those letters. You may press a single <ESC>, but | |
| there is a delayed response which you may find annoying. | |
| Also, the <TAB> and cursor keys will cycle between <Select>, | |
| <Exit> and <Help> | |
| o To get help with an item, use the cursor keys to highlight <Help> | |
| and Press <ENTER>. | |
| Shortcut: Press <H> or <?>. | |
| Radiolists (Choice lists) | |
| ----------- | |
| o Use the cursor keys to select the option you wish to set and press | |
| <S> or the <SPACE BAR>. | |
| Shortcut: Press the first letter of the option you wish to set then | |
| press <S> or <SPACE BAR>. | |
| o To see available help for the item, use the cursor keys to highlight | |
| <Help> and Press <ENTER>. | |
| Shortcut: Press <H> or <?>. | |
| Also, the <TAB> and cursor keys will cycle between <Select> and | |
| <Help> | |
| Data Entry | |
| ----------- | |
| o Enter the requested information and press <ENTER> | |
| If you are entering hexadecimal values, it is not necessary to | |
| add the '0x' prefix to the entry. | |
| o For help, use the <TAB> or cursor keys to highlight the help option | |
| and press <ENTER>. You can try <TAB><H> 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 <SPACE BAR> and <B> for those | |
| who are familiar with less and lynx. | |
| o Press <E>, <X>, <Enter> or <Esc><Esc> 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 <lam836@cs.cuhk.hk>. 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 <mec@shout.net> is the current maintainer. | |
| <END OF FILE> |