From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Oct 31 23:47:29 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7626516A41F for ; Mon, 31 Oct 2005 23:47:29 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from freebsd-stable@box559.com) Received: from mx4.x15.net (mx4.x15.net [69.55.237.194]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4BE0743D77 for ; Mon, 31 Oct 2005 23:47:28 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from freebsd-stable@box559.com) Received: from j1.x15.net [63.196.213.76] by mx4.x15.net with ESMTP id 510201052X1EWjN9000KSbPK; Mon, 31 Oct 2005 23:47:27 +0000 Message-ID: <4366ACF0.20606@box559.com> Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 15:46:56 -0800 From: Pete Slagle MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Kris Kennaway , freebsd-stable@freebsd.org References: <20051031082807.GA68204@xor.obsecurity.org> In-Reply-To: <20051031082807.GA68204@xor.obsecurity.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: Subject: Re: GENERIC and DEFAULTS X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2005 23:47:29 -0000 >>i agree 100%, i hate wizardy/black-magic, and this 'fix' falls in that >>class. Why was a 5ton hammer used to fix non existing problem? >>a small comment like 'you better keep these lines to make X happy' >>would have sufficed. > > > You've clearly never spent much time on the FreeBSD support forums, > where every few days someone posts for help > > 1) with an error caused by removing one of those "Do not remove this!" > lines, and > > 2) for help on getting X working when they forgot to add /dev/io and > /dev/mem to their kernel. > > Those of us who spend a lot of time answering such questions will > surely welcome the change, since it will hopefully reduce our > workload. Abundant thanks and sympathy are due to the generous souls that staff the support forums. That said, it is far from clear that ease-of-use considerations are the most important factor. Freedom to not have the O/S second guess one's choices, or worse, silently override them, is one of the main differentiators between FreeBSD and other available operating systems. Many (most?) of us are here because we do not want excessive complexity and hand holding. Let's not give away the fundamental character of FreeBSD in an (undoubtedly futile) attempt to make it idiot-proof. This is a small case in itself, but it represents a much larger issue concerning future direction.