Subject: Re: CVS commit: src/sys/kern
To: None <releng-2-0@netbsd.org>
From: Aymeric Vincent <vincent@labri.fr>
List: tech-kern
Date: 04/09/2004 13:57:39
Am I dreaming or was this pulled up to the 2-0 branch??

  Aymeric

Aymeric Vincent a wrote:

>
> Bill Squier wrote:
>
>> Knowing briefly what the sysctl knob will change right there in the 
>> output of
>> sysctl -a seems like a win to me-- and a much bigger one that knowing
>> that my PIII supports the ABCDEFG-HOOKED-ON-PHONICS-WORKED-FOR-ME 
>> flag.
>
> This feature does not need to be in the kernel: it can be in 
> sysctl(8). I guess the semantics for a given sysctl variable never or 
> rarely changes, so that if a description exists, it will likely be 
> correct.
>
> And if the feature is so much used as you say (which I am inclined to 
> believe), the documentation slots will get filled in pretty quickly.
>
> I repeat what others have said too: the kernel is not the right place 
> for documentation.
>
> However, maybe the problem has its roots deeper: IIUC all the changes 
> made recently to the sysctl functionality were to avoid 
> desynchronization between kernel and userland; while we can pay some 
> little tradeoff for this because it really helps updating the kernel 
> and not the tools, pushing this to having the documentation in sync is 
> conceptually clean, but not appropriate for a kernel.
>
>  Aymeric
>