Like I said before, I'm no kernel hacker or great C programmer, so I'm not sure what exactly causes it. I'm going to send you two more kernels that have no 3rd party patches and that will determine if it is the compilers or the config options along with patches that are causing the bug. I've listed the help entry from the kernel config for the sysctl option which may shed some light on the situation. I can see why empeg left it out, because in a stock kernel with no changing hardware or software one would not need the extra bloat.

CONFIG_SYSCTL:

The sysctl interface provides a means of dynamically changing certain kernel parameters and variables on the fly without requiring a recompile of the kernel or reboot of the system. The primary interface consists of a system call, but if the /proc filesystem is enabled, a tree of modifiable sysctl entries will be generated beneath the /proc/sys directory. They are explained in the files in Documentation/sysctl/. Note that enabling this option will enlarge the kernel by at least 8 KB.

As it is generally a good thing, you should say Y here unless building a kernel for install/rescue disks or your system is very limited in memory.


Brian

-See my empeg here-