From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Mar 18 21:51:06 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CC5BE106564A for ; Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:51:06 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from talon@lpthe.jussieu.fr) Received: from shiva.jussieu.fr (shiva.jussieu.fr [134.157.0.129]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4712C8FC13 for ; Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:51:05 +0000 (UTC) Received: from parthe.lpthe.jussieu.fr (parthe.lpthe.jussieu.fr [134.157.10.1]) by shiva.jussieu.fr (8.14.4/jtpda-5.4) with ESMTP id p2ILacSr033878 ; Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:36:52 +0100 (CET) X-Ids: 168 Received: from niobe.lpthe.jussieu.fr (niobe.lpthe.jussieu.fr [134.157.10.41]) by parthe.lpthe.jussieu.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id 787742054F; Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:36:37 +0100 (CET) Received: by niobe.lpthe.jussieu.fr (Postfix, from userid 2005) id CD0E340E0; Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:36:41 +0100 (CET) Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 22:36:41 +0100 From: Michel Talon To: Chad Perrin , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Message-ID: <20110318213641.GA37871@lpthe.jussieu.fr> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.3i X-Miltered: at jchkmail.jussieu.fr with ID 4D83D066.001 by Joe's j-chkmail (http : // j-chkmail dot ensmp dot fr)! X-j-chkmail-Enveloppe: 4D83D066.001/134.157.10.1/parthe.lpthe.jussieu.fr/parthe.lpthe.jussieu.fr/ Cc: Subject: Re: HAL must die! X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 21:51:06 -0000 Chad wrote: > Everybody who thinks it's a good idea (by way of analogy) to write > command line utilities that default to not letting you specify any > options at all, and if you use one option to do something non-default > you > have to specify *all* options even when the specification is exactly the > same as the default -- raise your hands. In fact i am just now writing something which does that: either mostly automatic, or with full "expert" options if you know what you are doing. There is no real middle ground, in my opinion, and i just don't like the Unix style commands, with tons of options and unscrutable man pages. I think this Unix approach has not led to considerable adoption, generally. To come back to HAL, i have been usually happy with HAL. You just have to know that if you want to modify some simple X configuration (typically change the keyboard language) you have to do it in a HAL config file, not in xorg.conf. The only problem is that the HAL config files are in xml crap, not in usual form. In fact the main HAL problem is a documentation problem, like for many other softs. How many new features of FreeBSD are correctly documented presently? -- Michel TALON