From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Tue May 6 02:59:55 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AFC1037B401 for ; Tue, 6 May 2003 02:59:55 -0700 (PDT) Received: from precinct13.iowa365.com (precinct13.iowa365.com [64.49.251.237]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 57B6943FD7 for ; Tue, 6 May 2003 02:59:54 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from ben@dubuque365.com) Received: (qmail 1615 invoked from network); 6 May 2003 09:59:53 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO ?10.0.0.2?) (12.219.104.246) by precinct13.iowa365.com with SMTP; 6 May 2003 09:59:53 -0000 From: "Benjamin F. Burke" To: Doug Barton In-Reply-To: <20030506002824.G666@znfgre.qbhto.arg> References: <011901c31390$7aef5730$0300000a@antalus> <20030505225826.G666@znfgre.qbhto.arg> <015601c3139d$e5ae3b60$0300000a@antalus> <20030506002824.G666@znfgre.qbhto.arg> Content-Type: text/plain Organization: Dubuque365.com Message-Id: <1052215193.41902.130.camel@watchtower.office.parksmediagroup.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.2.4 Date: 06 May 2003 04:59:53 -0500 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Bridge config in /etc/rc (patch) X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 09:59:56 -0000 On Tue, 2003-05-06 at 02:50, Doug Barton wrote: > True, but that's another step down the road of "How do we deal with the > issue of $BIGNUM conf options in a way that users can handle?" Our current > solution for that is to include them all in /etc/defaults/rc.conf, and > mostly in rc.conf.5. I'm not sure that solution scales, but I'm equally > uncomfortable with the idea of UNdocumented options. I wonder how many experienced freebsd users really dislike having to use the current rc.conf setup. If it ain't broke... But if this is about ease of use for the less-experienced, why not keep putting all the options in /etc/defaults/rc.conf, and create a sysinstall-like interface to them that new users can run? Actually, why not add rc.conf-editing functionality to sysinstall? The only prerequisites I can think of for this are a more parseable option-grouping syntax for rc.conf and a database of ultra-friendly option descriptions, which the man page already has a good start on. If you think it's a good idea, I'd be happy to take a crack at a prototype. Cheers, Ben Burke