Adding a new x86 image or related packages to the default x86 image

[Stefan Lippers-Hollmann]

Hi

On 2023-09-14, Paul Spooren wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I’d like to merge the PR which adds the Mellanox Spectrum SN2100 to 
> OpenWrt[1]. In its current state a new x86 image would be added next 
> to the generic x86 image. Another approach is to add all related 
> packages to the default image. Either way creates a working image.
> 
> I remember that people were complaining about a “bloated” x86 image 
> which slows down their container/VM needs. So what would be a simple 
> way forward here?
[...]

If at all reasonably possible (assuming the size increase is roughly in
the ball park  of 1-2 MB for the total image), I'd suggest to stick to a 
single x86_64 image for maintenance and testing reasons alone. The bump
of the x86 targets to kernel v6.1 -while easy- is mostly stalled due to
there being three 32 bit x86 sub-targets and the need to go through the
kernel config rebase three times, which is wearing thin the patience and 
motivation of doing so (x86_64 alone would have been ready >2 months 
ago). Unless these SN2100 devices suddenly become a cheap commodity and 
ubiquitous among OpenWrt developers and -users, I fear that it would 
just add to this churn and pretty much rot away in the tree, while at 
the same time making progress harder for the other x86{,_64} devices.

Regards
	Stefan Lippers-Hollmann
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