New Project Aims To Make It Easy To Reuse Kconfig Outside Of The Linux Kernel

Init-kconfig is the new software project trying to make it easy for re-using the Kconfig configuration system outside of the Linux kernel and more adaptable for independent software projects.

Kconfig is the robust configuration system used by the Linux kernel for configuring the built-in modules and plethora of other kernel tunables. Kconfig has already been used by outside projects like U-Boot, Coreboot, and several others. But currently to re-use Kconfig you basically need to pull the code from the Linux kernel and begin adapting it to your own purposes.

The init-kconfig effort started by Luis Chamberlain aims to provide a clean starting base from where you can pull in Kconfig support to your own independent code-base. Init-kconfig aims to closely resemble and synced to the Linux kernel's upstream Kconfig code but to drop out the various kernel'isms to make it more adaptable.

The init-kconfig code is hosted on Gitlab and the project was announced this week on the kernel mailing list.

In response to init-kconfig, some kernel developers expressed a preference towards the Linux kernel being the de facto source from grabbing Kconfig. Chamberlain didn't object to that but noted the Kconfig code within the Linux kernel would need to be slightly reworked to allow for that to happen. So we'll see if init-kconfig is a short-lived project if the Kconfig code within the Linux kernel gets a necessary rework.