2007-05-06 12:07:07

by Rusty Russell

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Kconfig text confusion: Battery Class Support?

Hi all,

I know writing decent Kconfig help entries is an obscure art, but can
we please try harder to make the help, y'know, helpful? See below for
my experience with 2.6.21-mm1.

How come the Kconfig help for EXTERNAL_POWER says "is mandatory for
battery class support" and I still get prompted for "Battery class
support" when I say N?

How come both these entries are of form "Foo (FOO)? -- Say Y here to
enable foo."? Shouldn't we assume the reader knows what Y means?

How about:

Battery class support (BATTERY) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) ?

This allows battery monitoring by userspace via sysfs (if
available) and/or APM kernel interface (if selected below). Say
Y or M if building a kernel for a laptop.

I don't even understand the CONFIG_EXTERNAL_POWER enough to comment on
that one 8(

Rusty.
==
*
* External power support
*
External power kernel interface (EXTERNAL_POWER) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) ?

Say Y here to enable kernel external power detection interface,
like AC or USB. Information also will exported to userspace via
/sys/class/external_power/ directory.

This interface is mandatory for battery class support.

External power kernel interface (EXTERNAL_POWER) [N/m/y/?] (NEW)
*
* Battery devices
*
Battery class support (BATTERY) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) ?

Say Y here to enable battery class support. This allows battery
monitoring by userspace via sysfs (if available) and/or APM
kernel interface (if selected below).

Battery class support (BATTERY) [N/m/y/?]


2007-05-06 20:32:00

by Anton Vorontsov

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Kconfig text confusion: Battery Class Support?

Hello Rusty,

On Sun, May 06, 2007 at 10:06:52PM +1000, Rusty Russell wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I know writing decent Kconfig help entries is an obscure art, but can
> we please try harder to make the help, y'know, helpful? See below for
> my experience with 2.6.21-mm1.
>
> How come the Kconfig help for EXTERNAL_POWER says "is mandatory for
> battery class support" and I still get prompted for "Battery class
> support" when I say N?
>
> How come both these entries are of form "Foo (FOO)? -- Say Y here to
> enable foo."? Shouldn't we assume the reader knows what Y means?
>
> How about:
>
> Battery class support (BATTERY) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) ?
>
> This allows battery monitoring by userspace via sysfs (if
> available) and/or APM kernel interface (if selected below). Say
> Y or M if building a kernel for a laptop.
>
> I don't even understand the CONFIG_EXTERNAL_POWER enough to comment on
> that one 8(
>

Thank you for the message, Rusty. It's "fixed" already in battery2-2.6.git.

Yes, battery/external power separation was a complicated part of whole
battery stuff. Now, thanks to David Woodhouse, external power and
battery classes merged, and there is much simpler configuration now:

*
* Power supply class support
*
Power supply class support (POWER_SUPPLY) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) m
Power supply debug (POWER_SUPPLY_DEBUG) [N/y/?] (NEW) y
Generic PDA/phone power driver (PDA_POWER) [N/m/?] (NEW) m
DS2760 battery driver (HP iPAQ & others) (BATTERY_DS2760) [N/m/?] (NEW) m
One Laptop Per Child battery (BATTERY_OLPC) [N/m/?] (NEW) m

That's all you have to answer.

Thanks,

--
Anton Vorontsov
email: [email protected]
backup email: [email protected]
irc://irc.freenode.org/bd2

2007-05-06 23:07:09

by Rusty Russell

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Kconfig text confusion: Battery Class Support?

On Mon, 2007-05-07 at 00:27 +0400, Anton Vorontsov wrote:
> Hello Rusty,
>
> On Sun, May 06, 2007 at 10:06:52PM +1000, Rusty Russell wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I know writing decent Kconfig help entries is an obscure art, but can
> > we please try harder to make the help, y'know, helpful? See below for
> > my experience with 2.6.21-mm1.

> Thank you for the message, Rusty. It's "fixed" already in battery2-2.6.git.

Thanks, that sounds much easier to navigate!

Cheers,
Rusty.