Re: Suggested dual human/binary interface for proc/devfs

From: Alexander Viro (viro@math.psu.edu)
Date: Thu Apr 06 2000 - 03:03:08 EST


On 4 Apr 2000, H. Peter Anvin wrote:

> We really do need a set of common routines for input data like this.
> Right now the various /proc devices which accept input data are all
> over the place, and duplicate effort. The sysctl code has the right
> idea -- special handlers to accept certain input data, and
> standardized formats for both input and output -- except that the rest
> of the sysctl code is a mess as far as I can tell.
>
> sysctl is a lot like SNMP MIBs. It might be a good idea to formalize
> this relationship.

Not likely. Names should be strings, damnit. Notice that *BSD folks seem
to be moving to sysctlbyname(), which takes a _name_, not an array of
magic constants as a sysctl ID. And right they are - it's UNIX, not
OS/360, after all.

-- 
"ASCII is tough" -- Programmer Barbie

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