I believe that the current kernel config files, while being
developer's real machines, don't reflect reality all the time. In
addition, it's difficult to see what hardware is attached to each
machine the developer has, and so, if one buys a new machine, nearly
always a kernel config file will have to be written from scratch,
or by editing GENERIC.

I suggest that either:

(a) the kernel config files move to a more functional basis:
NOTEBOOK, DESKTOP, WEBSERVER, FILESERVER, RAIDSERVER etc, and/or

(b) the kernel config files have a corresponding list of the hardware
attached to the machine, perhaps in the config file itself, and
perhaps including a sample of dmesg output, so that it's easy to
find out what's needed when a new piece of hardware is purchased,
or even if a piece of hardware is supported by what driver, prior
to purchase.

Comments?

Thanks,
Alistair

PS. It's not just the kernel config files. Last time I tried to
configure sendmail, I had exactly the same problem. Which probably
says a lot about me, and why I run postfix now.