Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Sun, 4 Nov 2001 17:54:38 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Sun, 4 Nov 2001 17:54:27 -0500 Received: from fluent1.pyramid.net ([206.100.220.212]:14893 "EHLO fluent1.pyramid.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id convert rfc822-to-8bit; Sun, 4 Nov 2001 17:54:21 -0500 Message-Id: <4.3.2.7.2.20011104144813.00c2c360@10.1.1.42> X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3.2 Date: Sun, 04 Nov 2001 14:53:54 -0800 To: Jakob =?iso-8859-1?Q?=D8stergaard?= , Tim Jansen From: Stephen Satchell Subject: Re: PROPOSAL: dot-proc interface [was: /proc stuff] Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <20011104211153.V14001@unthought.net> In-Reply-To: <160TbB-1wNIOWC@fmrl04.sul.t-online.com> <160T6C-1RvGb2C@fmrl05.sul.t-online.com> <20011104205527.R14001@unthought.net> <160TbB-1wNIOWC@fmrl04.sul.t-online.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org At 09:11 PM 11/4/01 +0100, Jakob ?stergaard wrote: >On Sun, Nov 04, 2001 at 09:13:35PM +0100, Tim Jansen wrote: > > On Sunday 04 November 2001 20:55, Jakob ?stergaard wrote: > > > > BTW nobody says to one-value-files can not have types (see my earlier > > > > posts in this thread). > > > I don't dislike one-value-files - please tell me how you get type > > > information > > > > Using a ioctl that returns the type. > >But that's not pretty :) > >Can't we think of something else ? I absolutely love how people want to re-invent the wheel. If you want typed access (both read AND write) in a version-independent manner, then you really need to take a look at Simple Network Management Protocol, or SNMP. It has everything you want: named access, types, binary data or ASCII data or whatever data, and the ability for vendor, distribution, and version differences to be caught quickly and easily. As new stuff is added or changed, all you need is a replacement MIB to be able to use the stuff. Furthermore, SNMP is script friendly in that access to the data can be automated, with all conversions being done in userspace. Finally, SNMP works over networks. There are many, many security issues surrounding SNMP, but at least it exists, is well-understood, is already implemented in multiple systems, and it WORKS. Why invent yet another replacement for sysctl? My pair-o-pennies(tm) to this discussion... Satch - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/