Quoting Gary "D." Timuss,

> (a) How did anyone _know_ this?  I didn't see anything on this list, 
> /doc/CHANGES doesn't say anything, and options(4) says nothing either.  
> I now see these are contained within the sample options files, but there
> is no indication of their essentialness.

Actually, I think it was mentioned twice on this list. But one of those
times may have been during the long, long release cycle, so it was easily
forgotten.

> (b) If COMPAT_LINUX _requires_ (and logically implies) EXEC_ELF, why does
> one need to specify both?  And if "machine i386" _requires_ EXEC_AOUT and
> EXEC_SCRIPT, then these aren't "options" either.

Executable file formats are really a seperate issue from the emulations
itself. You should really be able to compile Linux compat code without
EXEC_ELF (you dont' want to do that, but..). The EXEC_ options were
initiated because the Alpha port is moving from ECOFF to ELF, and who
knows, other ports may move to ELF sometime too.

Btw, there are a few other options that aren't really optional, like
VNODEPAGER for example.

- Frank