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Date:      Sat, 9 Jul 2011 23:25:13 -0600
From:      Warner Losh <imp@bsdimp.com>
To:        Doug Barton <dougb@FreeBSD.org>
Cc:        Tai-hwa Liang <avatar@FreeBSD.org>, Craig Rodrigues <rodrigc@crodrigues.org>, svn-src-all@FreeBSD.org, src-committers@FreeBSD.org, svn-src-head@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: svn commit: r223854 - head/lib/libstand
Message-ID:  <DFF856AA-8E60-4FDB-967D-7AA93B6FBFAC@bsdimp.com>
In-Reply-To: <4E19321F.1090801@FreeBSD.org>
References:  <201107080135.p681ZXZu087112@svn.freebsd.org> <CAG=rPVcydzGwfxVS6mbJs6eka52btsf=c5ZtKnkOEgPk-UZSpw@mail.gmail.com> <B8307588-78BB-401B-9CCB-9032727D6EF5@bsdimp.com> <4E19321F.1090801@FreeBSD.org>

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On Jul 9, 2011, at 11:01 PM, Doug Barton wrote:

> On 07/08/2011 15:29, Warner Losh wrote:
>>=20
>> On Jul 8, 2011, at 2:25 AM, Craig Rodrigues wrote:
>>=20
>>> Hi,
>>>=20
>>> While not ideal, would it be possible consider setting WARNS to set
>>> different levels
>>> depending on what the value of ${MACHINE_ARCH} is?
>>>=20
>>> Something like:
>>>=20
>>> .if ${MACHINE_ARCH} !=3D "sparc64"  (or whatever the correct value =
is)
>>> WARNS ?=3D 0
>>> .else
>>> WARNS ?=3D 2
>>> .endif
>>>=20
>>> This would at least be an attempt to prevent people from adding new
>>> code to libstand which introduce new warnings.
>>=20
>> We've avoided this in the tree, and I'd urge against it.  It gives a
>> false sense of security and tends to make problems linger.  I'd like =
to
>> strongly argue against it.
>=20
> If I'm missing something here, feel free to correct me. But what you
> seem to be saying is that WARNS should be kept down to the LCD, is =
that
> right?

Yes.

> If so, wouldn't that mean that the problems are just going to be
> ignored perpetually?

No.  History has shown that they are properly fixed on all platforms in =
the fullness of time.

> ISTM that what Craig is proposing gives us the benefits of noticing
> breakage faster at higher WARNS levels for those arches that support
> them, while allowing interested folks to pick up the work on the
> less-well-supported arches as time allows. I don't see a downside to =
that.

Yes.  I understand Craig's theory.  The down-side is that people just if =
!mips or if !arm stuff out thinking it is safe to do so, when in fact =
the warnings are telling you about real (or potentially real) bugs on =
the platform in question.  So instead of making things safer, you are =
really masking the bugs.  Better to fix the warnings on those platforms =
than to pretend that WARNS=3D9 on i386 is "good enough" and that you can =
bump that down to WARNS=3D1 when you encounter something you don't =
understand.

So, it might catch one or two trivial things, but if we do it throughout =
the tree I worry that the very good efforts to raise the warnings for =
all ports will come to a stop and we'll wind up with fewer bug fixes for =
the platforms that complain.  Having the low WARNS=3D today motivates =
people to fix stuff...

Warner=



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