# Is order important in a kernel config file?



## mrjayviper (Aug 16, 2015)

example:

In the GENERIC kernel config file, `device ether` would normally be after `device miibus`. Would it make a difference if somehow I mistakenly reversed them?

Thanks


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## kpa (Aug 16, 2015)

The order is not important, think the config(5) file as a shell script with a long list of variable assignments. In case there are multiple settings for the same device/option ( for example device ether followed by nodevice ether ) the last one takes precedence. The order is significant however in this case:


```
include GENERIC
ident MYKERNEL
...
```


You have to have the ident line after include so that your custom kernel is named correctly. Of course you'll also have to add your own modifications to GENERIC after the include and ident lines, not before.


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