Re: the sickness continues

Adam D. Bradley (bradley@cs.unca.edu)
Wed, 29 Jan 1997 11:55:56 -0500 (EST)

> > The longer message is annoying for those who run Linux on a
> > 20 char wide LCD display - I hate error messages that line wrap ;-)
> > Plus - hands up who wants a bloated kernel ;-*
>
> How about having a separate include file or set of directories and files
> for just this purpose, customizable error messages. This way people can
> work on and release their own custom 'flavor' of Linux by modifying these
> files, which I assume would just include some const char*'s.
> BIG_UNDERLINED variables could be used to reduce namespace pollution.

Ack! We just finished a _huge_ bandwidth-waster on this one...(remember
the "Jive...International Linux" thread?) Essentially, we couldn't agree
on a kernel mechanism (or agree that a kernel mechanism was a good idea);
best suggestion was for someone to write "translation tables" and a
program/perl script that parses the source and replaces error strings
according to those translations. There were simply no optimal schemes for
doing things with compile directives (#ifdef ENGLISH) or at run-time
(using char *'s).

Adam

--
He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him    Adam Bradley, UNCA Senior
astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say,             Computer Science
"Is there not a lie in my right hand?"   Isaiah 44:20
        bradley@cs.unca.edu       http://www.cs.unca.edu/~bradley      <><