From owner-cvs-all Sun Jan 10 14:44:05 1999 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id OAA24475 for cvs-all-outgoing; Sun, 10 Jan 1999 14:44:05 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from awfulhak.org (awfulhak.force9.co.uk [195.166.136.63]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA24465 for ; Sun, 10 Jan 1999 14:44:01 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from brian@Awfulhak.org) Received: from keep.lan.Awfulhak.org (brian@keep.lan.Awfulhak.org [172.16.0.8]) by awfulhak.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id WAA00499; Sun, 10 Jan 1999 22:43:27 GMT (envelope-from brian@Awfulhak.org) Received: from keep.lan.Awfulhak.org (brian@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by keep.lan.Awfulhak.org (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id VAA00631; Sun, 10 Jan 1999 21:49:43 GMT (envelope-from brian@keep.lan.Awfulhak.org) Message-Id: <199901102149.VAA00631@keep.lan.Awfulhak.org> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.0.2 2/24/98 To: Mike Smith cc: Brian Somers , committers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: sysctl descriptions In-reply-to: Your message of "Sun, 10 Jan 1999 10:07:25 PST." <199901101807.KAA07319@dingo.cdrom.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 21:49:43 +0000 From: Brian Somers Sender: owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk > > FWIW, I back Pouls opinion. What's so special about sysctls that > > makes them even need the description field in the first place - let > > alone actually compiling it in ? > > What's special about them is that they are the presentation form of > kernel tunable values. They're fronted directly to the user. I don't see what the difference is between the use of sysctl and the use of say kbdcontrol or mixer. If I want to find out how to use the stuff that mixer changes, I ``man mixer''. Sysctl tweaks the way the kernel behaves. If I want information, I ``man sysctl''. [.....] > What's wrong with writing manpages? > > - they're too bulky > - sysctl(1) doesn't know about them > - experience shows they're never updated in sync, regardless of > "responsibility" > - many items don't need that much verbiage > > just off the top of my head. If you've got problems with troff etc, this isn't the conversation to bring them up (of course you've got a pretty good point WRT sysctl(8) and even sysctl(3) - they're not exactly good documentation examples!). The point is that the sysctl documentation should be found in the same place as the rest of the system documentation. > Looks like this bus shelter isn't going anywhere. 8( I can't say I'm surprised :-I > -- > \\ Sometimes you're ahead, \\ Mike Smith > \\ sometimes you're behind. \\ mike@smith.net.au > \\ The race is long, and in the \\ msmith@freebsd.org > \\ end it's only with yourself. \\ msmith@cdrom.com -- Brian Don't _EVER_ lose your sense of humour ! To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message