Subject: Re: CVS commit: src/sys/kern
To: Bill Squier <groo@old-ones.com>
From: Aymeric Vincent <vincent@labri.fr>
List: tech-kern
Date: 04/09/2004 13:51:39
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