Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 18:11:45 +1000 From: Bruce Evans <bde@zeta.org.au> To: bde@zeta.org.au, luigi@labinfo.iet.unipi.it Cc: ahasty@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-committers@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-sys@FreeBSD.ORG, hasty@rah.star-gate.com, roger@cs.strath.ac.uk Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/pci brooktree848.c Message-ID: <199805190811.SAA06734@godzilla.zeta.org.au>
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>> A sysctl is even worse than a config option for device control. ioctl(2) >> should be used for device control. > >You are right. But some programs just work because they rely on >the defaults used by the kernel, and fail to set up things properly >(or -- it is the same -- they assume a default behaviour that suit >their needs). > >The PAL<->NTSC has been historically (at least in my experience) >a big sort of confusion and incompatibilities, and people on either >side of the Atlantic (including me) tend to forget this. I found myself >many times to have to patch video grabbing programs to do this (e.g. >see vic). And many times i hardwired a PAL mode in my code causing >troubles to people in the US. At least this sysctl helps fixing >things without having to change sources or recompile. So would an ioctl. You just make the setting sticky and change it only at boot time. For the administrator, the only differences are: 1) the command used to change the setting (`sysctl -w hw.fooN.bar=magic' vs `fooctl -f /dev/fooN bar magic'). 2) sysctl variables are a bit easier to find using `sysctl -a | grep ':' This is being fixed by letting sysctl variables grow like weeds :-). There will soon be enough of them for this to give more to search in than `apropos ""'. Bruce To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message
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