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From: "John S. Dyson" <toor@dyson.iquest.net>
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Subject: Re: VM system info
In-Reply-To: <867m9gpsts.fsf@bitbox.follo.net> from Eivind Eklund at "Dec 8, 97 01:43:59 am"
To: perhaps@yes.no (Eivind Eklund)
Date: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 20:51:43 -0500 (EST)
Cc: dyson@FreeBSD.ORG, current@FreeBSD.ORG
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Eivind Eklund said:
> 
> I'm going to be extremely politically incorrect here:
>
That is perfectly okay :-).  I think we are all supposed to
discuss, and not just rubber-stamp :-).

> 
> I want this info in the kernel.  At the very least, I want
> documentation as a part of the SYSCTL_*() macro parameters, unused but 
> available as a (mandatory) part of the source - better would be as a
> part of the kernel that can be compiled away by setting a kernel
> option (e.g. NO_SYSCTL_DOCS).
>
The biggest problem with that is the size of the "documentation."  I
agree that it would be a good idea to document everything.  Internally
would be nice (I guess), because it would tend to stay better in sync.
Some kind of literate programming scheme would be interesting also.

> 
> I don't care about the amount of hardwired memory it wastes - memory
> is extremely cheap, people's time aren't.
> 
I understand, since it is likely that all of the internal strings wouldn't
be larger than say 64K, that is a drop in the bucket for the system, and
could be disabled anyway. 

I just don't know what to think about your notion, it *might* be a good idea
for the kernel.  I know that the sysctls can be tedious to wade through,
and some of the features might not be clear.  I don't know what the rest of the
other FreeBSD developers think about this idea, and it would be a good idea to
get more input.

All I know is that now when people run out of swap space, I can tell them
the sysctl to turn paging off :-).  Then they won't try to use any more :-).

-- 
John
dyson@freebsd.org
jdyson@nc.com