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Date:      Tue, 21 Jan 1997 10:04:51 +1030 (CST)
From:      Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au>
To:        bde@zeta.org.au (Bruce Evans)
Cc:        bde@zeta.org.au, msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au, current@FreeBSD.org, dyson@FreeBSD.org, mark@grondar.za, peter@FreeBSD.org, peter@spinner.dialix.com, wpaul@freefall.freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: VM bogon? Was: Re: NIS breakage
Message-ID:  <199701202334.KAA03025@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au>
In-Reply-To: <199701201630.DAA00108@godzilla.zeta.org.au> from Bruce Evans at "Jan 21, 97 03:30:23 am"

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Bruce Evans stands accused of saying:
> >> Fixing support for "?" fields is more important (you can't edit fields
> >
> >This is a direct result of a discussion thread in which I attempted to
> >ascertain a suitable set of values for "not useful" and "find it yourself",
> >the net result of which was your insistence that there was no suitable
> >value for either and that neither should be allowed.
> 
> No, I said that all values may be suitable and all should be allowed.

Specifically, you said that all numeric values should be allowed (which
I faulted on trying to constrain people to "reasonable" values; a mistake),
but that no numeric values were acceptable as "magic".

> Values can't be interpreted unambiguously (without fixing config(8)
> and a few drivers, or knowing too much about drivers) because they
> are ambiguous.  "?" is represented as -1 or 0 depending on the field.
> "None" is usually represented in the same way:
> 
> 	field		none		?
> 	-----		----		-
> 	port		-1		0
> 	irq		0		0
> 	drq		-1		-1
> 	maddr		0		0
> 	msiz		0		0
> 
> Until drivers export tables to say which fields they use, userconfig
> should display all fields, leaving the ones with value "none" blank,
> and accept input "?" to give fields with value "?" (which unfortunately
> have to be displayed as blank except for the port field).

I think it would be reasonable to lump "?" and "none" under the euphemism
"auto" for now.  The key '?' is already taken (help screen) in another 
context, and 'a' is valid hex.  Would 'x' be acceptable?

> Bruce

-- 
]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer        msmith@gsoft.com.au             [[
]] Genesis Software                     genesis@gsoft.com.au            [[
]] High-speed data acquisition and      (GSM mobile)     0411-222-496   [[
]] realtime instrument control.         (ph)          +61-8-8267-3493   [[
]] Unix hardware collector.             "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick  [[



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