Subject: re: power management and related concerns
To: Jason Thorpe <thorpej@shagadelic.org>
From: matthew green <mrg@eterna.com.au>
List: tech-kern
Date: 07/08/2006 10:47:26
   
   > Though I'm not clued on the property list jizz, what's the problem  
   > of using an ioctl like virtually every other application on BSD  
   > uses for these kind of interactions with the kernel?
   
   The main issue is that whenever you want to add more information, you  
   have to version the damn thing and then provide compatibility ioctls.
   
   Dictionaries don't have this problem, so long as you never REMOVE  
   from the list of keys in the dictionary.


this is false.  we have added more info to several sysctl's that
could have been ioctl's and it did not require versioning the
interface.  see KERN_PROC2.


(i'm not trying to argue any point, just to point out that we
already have methods for adding new info without breaking
compatibilty easily.)



.mrg.