From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Mar 18 23:39:16 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0B0EB106568D for ; Fri, 18 Mar 2011 23:39:16 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from Ggatten@waddell.com) Received: from mailhost1.waddell.com (mailhost1.waddell.com [67.130.252.46]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 66ABE8FC28 for ; Fri, 18 Mar 2011 23:39:14 +0000 (UTC) Received: from emlpfilt2.waddell.com (emlpfilt2.waddell.com [10.1.10.30]) by mailhost1.waddell.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id C251950D36; Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:39:13 -0500 (CDT) Received: from emlpfilt2.waddell.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by localhost (Postfix) with SMTP id B4A152F8003; Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:39:13 -0500 (CDT) Received: from ADVPHTCAS0.wradvisors.com (advphtcas0.wradvisors.com [192.168.203.228]) by emlpfilt2.waddell.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id AD5DC2F8002; Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:39:13 -0500 (CDT) Received: from WADPMBXV0.waddell.com ([169.254.1.145]) by ADVPHTCAS0.wradvisors.com ([192.168.203.228]) with mapi; Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:39:13 -0500 From: Gary Gatten To: "'perrin@apotheon.com'" , "'freebsd-questions@freebsd.org'" Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:39:12 -0500 Thread-Topic: HAL must die! Thread-Index: Acvlw/ow1hJBJ4QkQFWPYZKVCXgfkQAAbUSZ Message-ID: <32277_1300491553_4D83ED21_32277_485_1_D9B37353831173459FDAA836D3B43499BD354B85@WADPMBXV0.waddell.com> In-Reply-To: <20110318231301.GA21827@guilt.hydra> Accept-Language: en-US Content-Language: en-US X-MS-Has-Attach: X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: acceptlanguage: en-US Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable MIME-Version: 1.0 Cc: Subject: Re: HAL must die! X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 23:39:16 -0000 Although all very interesting and entertaining, how much will it cost me to= kill this thread and any concepts mentioned herein for at least 30 days? = At minimum, haven't we strayed quit a bit from the OP and as such this "wor= thwhile" discussion should be a new thread? Just sayin'.... ----- Original Message ----- From: Chad Perrin [mailto:perrin@apotheon.com] Sent: Friday, March 18, 2011 06:13 PM To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: HAL must die! On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 10:36:41PM +0100, Michel Talon wrote: > Chad wrote: > > > > Everybody who thinks it's a good idea (by way of analogy) to write > > command line utilities that default to not letting you specify any > > options at all, and if you use one option to do something non-default > > you have to specify *all* options even when the specification is > > exactly the same as the default -- raise your hands. >=20 > In fact i am just now writing something which does that: either mostly > automatic, or with full "expert" options if you know what you are > doing. There is no real middle ground, in my opinion, and i just don't > like the Unix style commands, with tons of options and unscrutable man > pages. I think this Unix approach has not led to considerable adoption, > generally. To come back to HAL, i have been usually happy with HAL. You > just have to know that if you want to modify some simple X > configuration (typically change the keyboard language) you have to do > it in a HAL config file, not in xorg.conf. The only problem is that > the HAL config files are in xml crap, not in usual form. In fact the > main HAL problem is a documentation problem, like for many other softs. > How many new features of FreeBSD are correctly documented presently?=20 Wait -- what? Really? Let's say your application has the following options with defaults: foo: one bar: two baz: three qux: four Let's say someone wants qux to be five instead of four. Are you saying you're writing your application to *force* them to specify *all four* configuration settings, even when three of them are default? Are you further saying you're doing this because you think it's a good idea from a UI standpoint, and not just out of laziness? --=20 Chad Perrin [ original content licensed OWL: http://owl.apotheon.org ]
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