> 
> >Date: Wed, 2 Aug 1995 23:35:24 -0400
> >From: John Kohl <jtk@atria.com>
> >
> >>>>>> "Mike" == Mike Long <mike.long@analog.com> writes:
> >
> >Mike> 3) I also took the opportunity to get rid of the name member of struct
> >Mike>    audio_encoding, because I strongly dislike the idea of passing
> >Mike>    strings back and forth between the kernel and userland.  Userland
> >Mike>    code can generate the name itself if necessary.
> >
> >I find it quite handy in my mixer app to just query the kernel for the
> >names of what encodings are available.  That way I can just suck the
> >strings right out for the menu, and not worry about the whole
> >translation-to-names quagmire (keeping up with new encodings and
> >recompiling new tables, etc etc.)
> 
> The list of encodings should rarely change.  With that in mind, do you
> really think that the convenience is worth the kernel bloat?  Passing
> strings is a bad habit to get into.

The strings are there for the use by audio independent mixer apps. The intent
was to allow the app to get all of the information from the system as to
the audio paths and controls.

What could be done is to use id's for well known devices and reserve a value
for "custom". The custom value will have a string name supplied by the driver.




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 John Brezak                    Internet: brezak@ch.hp.com
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