Date: Thu, 04 Jun 1998 14:23:09 -0700 From: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> To: Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com> Cc: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, dyson@FreeBSD.ORG, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: kernfs/procfs questions... Message-ID: <199806042123.OAA02195@dingo.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 04 Jun 1998 16:22:53 MDT." <199806042222.QAA04845@mt.sri.com>
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> > > I'm not saying that kernfs would make this easier, but if I had a tuning > > > program that allowed me to tune it (man 8 vmtune), then it would be > > > *better* documented. Maybe I'm not screaming so much for the > > > implementation, but the interface and the way that new sysctl are added > > > w/out any regard to documentation/accessing them. :( > > > > I think we are perilously close to agreement here. > > > > You could argue that the absensce of such a utility implies that the > > nodes are not there for your general tweaking. ie. they are not > > exposed to your interface and thus you can effectively ignore them... > > I argue shouldn't be exposed to the users then. If it's exposed, it > should be documented. In other words, sysctl should go away since very > few (if any) of it's knobs are documented except accidentally. You aren't clear *which* sysctl should go away. If you mean sysctl(8), I hope you will be removing gdb, nm, hexdump, etc. as well, as these are all user-unfriendly tools designed for studying and/or adjusting the state of complex, undocumented things. sysctl(8) is a tool for writing scripts, and performing tasks which have been previously documented. It is not a user-friendly interface, however it still exists to serve a purpose. The absence of a "simpler" interface does not warrant the removal of the existing one. -- \\ Sometimes you're ahead, \\ Mike Smith \\ sometimes you're behind. \\ mike@smith.net.au \\ The race is long, and in the \\ msmith@freebsd.org \\ end it's only with yourself. \\ msmith@cdrom.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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