Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Wed, 26 Dec 2001 19:40:30 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Wed, 26 Dec 2001 19:40:22 -0500 Received: from msp-150.man.olsztyn.pl ([213.184.31.150]:22402 "EHLO msp-150.man.olsztyn.pl") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Wed, 26 Dec 2001 19:40:11 -0500 Date: Thu, 27 Dec 2001 01:39:17 +0100 From: Dominik Mierzejewski To: Linux Kernel List Cc: "Eric S. Raymond" , Riley Williams Subject: Re: Configure.help editorial policy Message-ID: <20011227003917.GA17344@msp-150.man.olsztyn.pl> In-Reply-To: <20011223174608.A25335@thyrsus.com> <20011226190918.B6167@thyrsus.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20011226190918.B6167@thyrsus.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.24i X-Linux-Registered-User: 134951 X-Homepage: http://home.elka.pw.edu.pl/~dmierzej/ X-PGP-Key-Fingerprint: B546 B96A 4258 02EF 5CAB E867 3CDA 420F 7802 6AFE Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Thursday, 27 December 2001, Eric S. Raymond wrote: > Riley Williams : > > Alternatively, deal with this problem the same way the "This may also be > > built as a module..." comment is - either include it several thousand > > times in Configure.help or (better still) have the configuration tools > > spit it out automatically every time the need for it crops up. The > > following ruleset could easily be implemented even in the `make config` > > and `make menuconfig` parsers, and should be just as easy in CML2. > > Applying rule (1) will result in a considerable reduction in the size of > > the file Documentation/Configure.help as it currently stands. > > I have said before; I am *not* going to make KB vs. KiB a > metaconfiguration option -- that would defeat the whole purpose of > having standard terminology. That decision is final, and this subject > is closed. With all due respect, Eric, I think you misunderstood. The way I understand it, Riley is simply proposing to automatically _attach_ an explanation of the KB/KiB confusion to help text of every option that uses these units. > The other is not a bad idea in principle. I've thought before about > adding a feature that would add specified boilerplate to the help a > tristate symbol, for exactly the reasons you suggest. Three things make > it a bit messy in practice. > > One is that it would have to be expressed in the rulebase, ruther than > wired into the code. I will not hardwire specific knowledge about > the Linux-specific properties of tristate symbols into the CML2 engine. > CML2 is already being used by at least two projects other than the kernel > and I know of a third that has it under consideration. Therefore I must > preserve its generality. Fair enough. I don't think anyone would want you to make it Linux-specific. > The second problem is that the module boilerplate is not all > boilerplate. Most instances contain the name of the generated module > object file. Thus, ypo do this right, I would have to declare module > names in the rulebase, one for each tristate entry. This implies a > significant extension to the CML2 language, which I'm reluctant to do > right now. The design is stable. I want it to stay that way until > (at least) well after CML2 achieves acceptance. > > Third, I don't want to do major surgery on Configure.help until after > CML2 enters the tree. Were I to do so, I would then have to maintain > two different versions of Configure.help. That would be too big a pain. > > Therefore, I'm going to defer consideration of this feature for now. > I certainly will not consider it until after CML2 goes into the 2.5 tree, > and may not consider it until there is some kind of final decision on > a 2.4 backport. Again, these are all valid points. I guess you could just put this idea far on the TODO list for now. :-) Same thing applies to the first part of Riley's proposition, it would seem. -- "The Universe doesn't give you any points for doing things that are easy." -- Sheridan to Garibaldi in Babylon 5:"The Geometry of Shadows" Dominik 'Rathann' Mierzejewski - 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/