Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 21:17:19 -0800 From: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> To: "Justin T. Gibbs" <gibbs@plutotech.com> Cc: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, Brian Somers <brian@Awfulhak.org>, committers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: sysctl descriptions Message-ID: <199901110517.VAA86539@dingo.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sun, 10 Jan 1999 22:04:47 MST." <199901110512.WAA18140@pluto.plutotech.com>
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> >I have a driver for a new peripheral. It's from a vendor that doesn't > >want to distribute source code, so the driver comes as a KLD module. > >The driver has a number of tuning options, which are exposed via the > >sysctl MIB. > > > >Please explain how I am to find documentation for these tuning options > >in the system manpages. > > If the vendor didn't provide a manual for their object module then the > vendor sucks. *shrug* Maybe the vendor sucks. Maybe you don't have the documentation for any one of a hundred reasons. > >Suggest how your approach is better than, for > >example, being able to directly ascertain what it is that the tuning > >options do using the same tool that I plan to use to adjust them. > > I personally question this approach which, unless you intend to embed full > documentation for the sysctl variable in the kernel, will not adequately > describe the value or consequences of adjusting a given parameter. So I should remove all of the help for the bootloader commands, all of the help in userconfig, and all of the usage strings in all of the user-space commands? Come on, you know as well as I do the benefits of succinct descriptions of things; if I am trying to find something already knowing that it exists, and it has a stupid name (as many do), the extra hinting from the description is usually all I'll need to find it. -- \\ 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 cvs-all" in the body of the message
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