Subject: Re: [RFC] Interface to hardware-assisted data movers
To: None <tech-kern@netbsd.org>
From: der Mouse <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
List: tech-kern
Date: 06/19/2002 21:23:27
> BTW, the reason I want it as a separate function is so that the name
> of the function is the only thing a back-end has to do to advertise
> its capabilities.  E.g. if a device can do a 6-way XOR operation,
> then it would provide an algdesc named "xor-6".  I want to avoid
> having to introduce flags, because flags don't always scale well,
> esp. if you're trying to describe complex combinations of operations.

Well, I really don't know enough about dmovers to do more than spout
generalities here.  But I have dealt with some interface design, and it
seems to me that sometimes flags scale *better*.  In particular, to
describe N orthogonal on-or-off things, you need N flag bits, but 2^N
strings.

Unless the string matching function is complicated to the point where
it can parse (for example) copy-block/nosrcinc/nodstinc as "copy-block
with the nosrcinc and nodstinc flags turned on".

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