From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 14 20:58:25 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 0E6CA37B401 for ; Wed, 14 May 2003 20:58:25 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mx.spiritone.com (mail9.spiritone.com [216.99.221.6]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 49E4043FB1 for ; Wed, 14 May 2003 20:58:24 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from pturley@aracnet.com) Received: (qmail 18252 invoked from network); 15 May 2003 03:13:15 -0000 Received: (ofmipd 216.99.211.183); 15 May 2003 03:12:53 -0000 Date: 14 May 2003 20:13:15 -0700 Message-Id: <4.2.2.20030514195009.00a17c10@mail.aracnet.com> From: "Paul Turley" To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Sender: pturley@mail.aracnet.com X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 4.2.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Subject: A modest proposal for better errno values... 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: Thu, 15 May 2003 03:58:25 -0000 Let me begin by assuring you all I am by no means a BSD hacker, just a user and fan, an interested party if you will, and so my thoughts are disposable; my vote isn't to be counted. But here are my thoughts, for those who care to read them. To put this in some perspective, the various versions of Apple Pascal I ran on my various versions of Apple ][ had a global variable which modified the system behavior in several ways. The variable was not exactly in plain sight, but was visible to a user who took more than a cursory glance at the software and/or its documentation. The Boolean variable "STUPID" --documented as STUdent Programmer ID-- was set TRUE by default, as shipped by Apple Computer. Apple has requested that the FreeBSD project change an identifier in the FreeBSD source, as Apple finds the current identifier somewhat indelicate. There seems to be some feeling that Apple has contributed little to the FreeBSD project. So the question seems obvious: Just how much, in tangible terms, does Apple want this changed? And what, of equivalent value to the project, are they prepared to offer in exchange for this favor? Be careful of the precedent you set. --pht