On 27 Apr 2002, Iggy Drougge wrote:

> I think you're turning this into a meaningless Windows contra UNIX
> argument. It doesn't have to be thick and impenetrable as Windows,
> yet not as cryptic as a traditional UNIX system. After all, I'm not
> talking about a full-fledged in- kernel GUI, just a bit clearer names
> when you type "ifconfig" (which AFAIK you can't do in Windows).

But if you're at the point where you can use ifconfig(8), you
probably know how to use man(1) as well, in which case learning
which device names correspond to which devices is trivial. And then
you're grateful forever for being able to use the command with less
typing, if nothing else.

So I can't see why we should take programmers off of, say, SMP in
order to implement something like this. Especially since now all
the people who are used to typing "ifconfig ep0" will now have to
retrain themselves.

> Besides, I think one must first open a source file to see the function
> names, and not the other way around, and once you've reached the stage
> where you're looking in those files, you're probably not all that
> bothered about function names. And if that's the case, SED can do
> wonders, can't it?

This is so wrong I don't know where to begin.

1) Sed can't do this, because you need actually to parse the syntax
to change this kind of stuff safely.

2) Why do we want to make our programmers run their source files
though sed, and then run them through again before compiling? That's
a pain in the ass, and will drive them away to other systems. It's
much, much, much better to lose users than programmers.

3) When you're sitting there in the kernel debugger, changing the
source files is of no use at all.

You know, this whole plan of yours reads like an ill-thought-out
(or not-thought-out) off-the-cuff idea. If you're really interested
in improving NetBSD's usability, why don't you find out what novice
users find to be difficult, first? Or do you have some evidence
that this is one of the major problems that users have with NetBSD?

cjs
-- 
Curt Sampson  <cjs@cynic.net>   +81 90 7737 2974   http://www.netbsd.org
    Don't you know, in this new Dark Age, we're all light.  --XTC