From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG  Sun Jul  7 15:56:21 2013
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: arch@FreeBSD.org
Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [8.8.178.115])
 by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F35C244C;
 Sun,  7 Jul 2013 15:56:20 +0000 (UTC)
 (envelope-from phk@phk.freebsd.dk)
Received: from phk.freebsd.dk (phk.freebsd.dk [130.225.244.222])
 by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id BB5C11966;
 Sun,  7 Jul 2013 15:56:20 +0000 (UTC)
Received: from critter.freebsd.dk (unknown [192.168.48.2])
 by phk.freebsd.dk (Postfix) with ESMTP id B8E783EB70;
 Sun,  7 Jul 2013 15:56:13 +0000 (UTC)
Received: from critter.freebsd.dk (localhost [127.0.0.1])
 by critter.freebsd.dk (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id r67FuDsH002870;
 Sun, 7 Jul 2013 15:56:13 GMT (envelope-from phk@phk.freebsd.dk)
To: Pawel Jakub Dawidek <pjd@FreeBSD.org>
Subject: Re: General purpose library for name/value pairs.
In-reply-to: <20130706194124.GE25842@garage.freebsd.pl>
From: "Poul-Henning Kamp" <phk@phk.freebsd.dk>
References: <20130704215329.GG1402@garage.freebsd.pl>
 <4818.1373008073@critter.freebsd.dk>
 <20130705195255.GB25842@garage.freebsd.pl>
 <60317.1373055040@critter.freebsd.dk>
 <20130706194124.GE25842@garage.freebsd.pl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Date: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 15:56:13 +0000
Message-ID: <2869.1373212573@critter.freebsd.dk>
Cc: arch@FreeBSD.org
X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14
Precedence: list
List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture <freebsd-arch.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/options/freebsd-arch>,
 <mailto:freebsd-arch-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-arch>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-arch@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-arch-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-arch>,
 <mailto:freebsd-arch-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 07 Jul 2013 15:56:21 -0000

In message <20130706194124.GE25842@garage.freebsd.pl>, Pawel Jakub Dawidek writ
es:

>> Maybe the basic n/v should just do strings, and interpretation of
>> strings be a layer above ?
>
>It would make getting values from the nvlist a hell - dealing with
>strto* functions and checking if conversion succeeded, that just too
>complex. If you look at the functionality it doesn't look that bad.
>atomic(9) has the same "problem" with multiple types.

Which is why I'm not too happy about atomic(9) either :-)

In the end it is a deficiency in the ISO-C standardiszation
lacking ambition :-/

>> You know ?  Screw that!   Having usable errors only in english is
>> far better than having only "Invalid argument" in all the languages
>> of the world.
>
>Well, can't we do better than that? This argument goes both ways.

Indeed it does.

But I don't see anyone talking about translating everything that
goes into dmesg og syslog, so for now our kernel and systems functions
are english only.

Once somebody figures out the _method_ for handling those translations,
we can start to talk about it.

In the meantime, it would be a big mistake to restrict ourselves
to "Invalid Argument" for complex API's 

-- 
Poul-Henning Kamp       | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
phk@FreeBSD.ORG         | TCP/IP since RFC 956
FreeBSD committer       | BSD since 4.3-tahoe    
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.