Subject: Re: CVS commit: src/sys/kern
To: Aymeric Vincent <vincent@labri.fr>
From: James Chacon <jmc@NetBSD.org>
List: tech-kern
Date: 04/09/2004 10:56:47
On Fri, Apr 09, 2004 at 01:57:39PM +0200, Aymeric Vincent wrote:
> 
> Am I dreaming or was this pulled up to the 2-0 branch??

It's stalled right now

James

> 
>  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
> >
> 
>