Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2002 13:09:19 -0500 (EST) From: "C J Michaels" <cjm2@earthling.net> To: <Gerhard.Sittig@gmx.net> Cc: <stable@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: Firewall config non-intuitiveness Message-ID: <1681.216.153.202.59.1012241359.squirrel@www1.27in.tv> In-Reply-To: <20020127220935.C1494@shell.gsinet.sittig.org> References: <20020127220935.C1494@shell.gsinet.sittig.org>
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Gerhard Sittig said:
> On Sun, Jan 27, 2002 at 11:57 -0600, David Syphers wrote:
>>
>> [ ... surprise ... ] As others have pointed out this behavior is
>> documented, but we must remember that a variable name itself is the
>> most important and immediate documentation. And having a firewall
>> load when firewall_enable is NO is complete nonsense.
>
> So maybe the variables should be named a little longer to fully
> describe their effect? Like
> firewall_ruleset_script_run_enable_when_set_to_yes? I'm sorry
> if I sound a little ironic, but when one is to administer a UNIX
Sarcastic, but I understand your point. But anyway... this mentality of
just because it's UNIX means it should be significantly more difficult to
administer is getting old. Yes people should read the docs, yes people
should be held responsible for their actions. And YES, the original poster
is entirely, 100% at fault for his mistake. But, by making said mistake,
he found something that he felt would use a little work for the betterment
of all.
No, I don't want FreeBSD to be a user-friendly induced mess that other OS's
are... but there are minor compromises we could make in name of ease of use
and better understanding.
Intuitive variable names in rc.conf(5) is one of them. Which MOST of them
are. Obviously one person started this whole mess, and maybe he is in the
very small minority, but there's wouldn't be such a hubub if no one cared
about one way or the other.
I think (at the very least) a compromise that serves both ends would be
appropriate.
> system one should have learned to use the available docs when in
> doubt. Otherwise we end up with variable names not fitting on 80
> column lines while their accompanying comments occupy the next
> ten lines. This would mean mirroring the manpage in the script
> once more and is not really the way things usually work.
>
>
> virtually yours 82D1 9B9C 01DC 4FB4 D7B4 61BE 3F49 4F77 72DE DA76
> Gerhard Sittig true | mail -s "get gpg key" Gerhard.Sittig@gmx.net --
>
> If you don't understand or are scared by any of the above
> ask your parents or an adult to help you.
--
Chris
"I'll defend to the death your right to say that, but I never said I'd
listen to it!"
-- Tom Galloway with apologies to Voltaire
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