Is it worth to build drivers for devices you won't use?

[lekto]

Is there a reason to build drivers for devices I'm sure I won't be using? Examples:
- My headless machine has to have GPU, because it can't past POST without it,
- I have motherboard where lspci can detect IDE, but it doesn't have IDE headers,
- Laptop with Bluetooth, but I don't use any Bluetooth devices.

[cornplayz256]

it depends... if you are gonna use them in the future or sometime... then probably, otherwise, if you are not gonna use them at all, then nope.
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nothing to see here

[Spanik]

I try to exclude everything I'm sure that I can not use. I'm running an AMD cpu so I remove everything relate to Intel cpu's. It is a desktop so I do remove wifi and bluetooth because these devices are not there. Same for drivers for ethernet chipsets or audio cards I do not have. As I'm not into amateur radio I leave that out etc.

As you are going through the trouble of configuring your own kernel anyway, I isn't that hard to build one later if you change your setup. OTOH I have no idea if it is useful to do so.

However, maybe you do not use bluetooth but it might be useful to have the driver so you can disable it and reduce power consumption. Maybe if the device is left unconfigured it might use more power. But YMMV as I'm certainly not a specialist in that kind of details.
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Expert in non-working solutions

[Goverp]

It may be worth building a number of USB device drivers, as the whole point of USB is that you can plug anything in - tv receivers, webcams, network interfaces, backup devices, rodents, etc. ad nauseam, and it might be slightly annoying to have to reconfigure your kernel if you want to use one in a hurry. Otherwise, IMHO there's no point in including devices not already connected to your machine.
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Greybeard

[Zucca]

I'd built most usb drivers as modules that you might need.
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..: Zucca :..

[pa4wdh]

If there is hardware you have and won't use i think it might be worth compiling the driver.
It might add power management capabilities that allow the kernel to set it to a low power state, so your unused hardware will use less power.
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[NeddySeagoon]

lekto,

From a 2005 post .. https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-2431534.html#2431534

1. If you need an option to boot, build it into the kernel. Thats (Y) (*) or a tick depending on your make tool.
2. If you need an option after booting, make it a module. Thes (M) (M) or a dot depending on your make tool.
3. If you don't need an option, don't make it at all. Thats (N) ( ) or a blank box depending on your make tool.
4. If you don't understand the help, leave the default alone

That advice is still good nearly 20 years later.
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Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

[XaetaCore]

I tend to add them when needed, A recompile of the kernel takes 3 minutes at most for me.