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Date:      Mon, 27 Nov 2000 19:33:25 +1000
From:      Andrew Kenneth Milton <akm@mail.theinternet.com.au>
To:        Mark Murray <mark@grondar.za>
Cc:        Andrew Kenneth Milton <akm@mail.theinternet.com.au>, freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Syscons flag to turn off random_harvest in scmouse?
Message-ID:  <20001127193324.L14398@zeus.theinternet.com.au>
In-Reply-To: <200011270819.eAR8Jme03831@gratis.grondar.za>; from Mark Murray on Mon, Nov 27, 2000 at 12:19:47PM %2B0200
References:  <20001127120137.H14398@zeus.theinternet.com.au> <200011270819.eAR8Jme03831@gratis.grondar.za>

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+-------[ Mark Murray ]----------------------
| > | That is a _great_ source of entropy. 
| > 
| > So are disk and network accesses, I don't see harvesting code being
| > sprinkled inside them. Probably because more people would scream if their
| > network or disk performance died.
| 
| Those are on their way.

Good-o.

| In the meanwhile, this is CURRENT, please be patient, there are worse

I've been tracking -current for a few years now I know the pros/cons.

| > | Later, when the Giant unravelling progresses, you can remove that.
| > 
| > I'm asking for an non-default flag/option to turn off the harvesting
| > inside syscons until then. A sysctl would be good.
| 
| What's wrong with a private patch?

I made the appropriate patches. I really don't see why you object to
having a knob to let people turn it off if its screwing with their
systems. When everything's ironed out the knob can go, and you can
harvest from wherever you want.

| > Look I know you wrote it, and I know you took heat for it. Perhaps
| > you should back off a bit and have a little objectivity here. I don't want
| > to get rid of the random module, I want to reduce the impact it has on
| > my machine when I'm using it interactively, and that's my choice.
| 
| Help me then. Patches would be useful. 

Patches are much use if noone else had a use for them or they wouldn't
be committed. Since there only seems to be me you and I talking about it
it doesn't seem to all that popular an idea anyway.

| Screaming for backout is not.

I wasn't screaming for a backout, I asked for a way to turn off harvesting
from the mouse code. You're the one that started in, I just responded in
the same condescending manner you used with me.

| > Given the number of unanswered emails about hwptr went backwards there's
| > a lot of people who run current and might also like that choice.
| 
| There is no direct cause->effect here from the random device to that
| problem. The reandom device is a busy thread outside Giant. *ANY* thread

That is simply not true. Code was inserted into the sycons and pcvt code
and that's the code in question. Removal of this code doesn't directly
effect the random device either by your argument, in which case you
shouldn't have an objection.

| will do that. There are lots of that kind of thing doing that in the kernel
| ATM, and they all need to be fixed.

Yeah but if I move my mouse I want interactivity and responsiveness, if I'm 
untarring a 200Mb file I'm willing to live with the consequences. These are
choices. It's wrong to be able to cripple a machine by moving the mouse,
and I think its wrong that code with that large an impact doesn't have
the option of being turned off.

-- 
Totally Holistic Enterprises Internet|  P:+61 7 3870 0066   | Andrew Milton
The Internet (Aust) Pty Ltd          |  F:+61 7 3870 4477   | 
ACN: 082 081 472 ABN: 83 082 081 472 |  M:+61 416 022 411   | Carpe Daemon
PO Box 837 Indooroopilly QLD 4068    |akm@theinternet.com.au| 


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