Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2007 08:21:20 -0800 From: Jason Evans <jasone@freebsd.org> To: obrien@freebsd.org, freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Rename sys/*/conf/DEFAULT to _DEFAULT Message-ID: <47309480.4050103@freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <20071106160521.GG18357@dragon.NUXI.org> References: <20071106160521.GG18357@dragon.NUXI.org>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
David O'Brien wrote: > In the days of modern Unix, many (most?) of us have come to expect and > depend on command-line completion that today's modern shells provide in > order to reduce typing (and inaccurate typing). > > Given that premise, the "DEFAULTS" file in sys/*/conf constantly trips me > up as my kernel files are named "DEO". I know others with kernel configs > named with a 'D' that grumbled when command-line completion was now > thwart due to "DEFAULTS". > > A very simple solution to this is to rename "DEFAULTS" to "_DEFAULTS". > > One of the purposes for DEFAULTS was to semi-hide devices and options > that really aren't optional (unless you really know what you're doing) or > have POLA concerns so they would not be causally removed. So this name > change also puts this file to a different "name space" - and in fact may > better convey "there are no user serviceable parts in here". I understand your motivation, since I also heavily use completion. However, I definitely object to renaming DEFAULTS based on its potential to share a prefix with a user-created directory entry. The real solution to the completion problem is simply to become used to typing a sufficiently long prefix before prompting the shell for completion, or if this is *really* bugging you, renaming your kernel config(s). I think it would be a mistake to start making naming decisions based on potential non-uniqueness of prefixes. Now, if you were to argue that DEFAULTS steals from the set of possible kernel names, and is a land mine that users must somehow know to avoid, I'd be less inclined to protest. :-) Jason
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?47309480.4050103>