CFD: XMLification of NOTES

[Poul-Henning Kamp]

In message <20040328094048.GA40406 at phantom.cris.net>, Alexey Zelkin writes:
>hi,
>
>This weekend I have got some spare time (due to illness) and in order to get
>some rest from current tasks decided to pass thru old TODO file.  Most
>interesting task got my attention was old item related to XMLification NOTES.
>
>Important advantage of this step (IMO) is to provide possibility to
>check dependency/conflicts of kernel configuration file to end users.

OK, I've held off saying my opinion on this, but here goes:

We have three options on this:

1. We can recoil in horror and erect a stigma so large that nobody will
   ever again even think about this or dare go near this issue.

   That means we will lack a proper way of documenting dependencies and
   relationships in a way that can be used by a programatic frontend to
   kernel configuration.

2. We can say "The concept is actually sound, but lets see if we can find
   an even better way of doing it.

   That might actually move us forward on this issue, there is no
   guarantee that it will and more likely than not, it will not.

3. We can say, yeah, it is not perfect but it is a lot better than any
   thing we have seen, so by all means move on!

   That means that we move forward right now and that FreeBSD gets better
   and more userfriendly.

IMO, unless somebody is willing to come up with a _better_ implementation
now, Alexey should be allowed to move forward.

So no, I don't particularly like XML, but I like the fact that somebody
works on these kinds of issues, so Alexey have my full support to work
on this, and if that means that XML is the format he settles on, then
so be it.

I don't want to see FreeBSD become a stagnant effort, and our kernel
configuration tools could use a modernization which can make them
more userfriendly to people who have not had 10 years experience with
FreeBSD and who can remember all emails about kernel configuration
discussions throughout the history of the project.

Go for it Alexey!

Poul-Henning


-- 
Poul-Henning Kamp       | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
phk at FreeBSD.ORG         | TCP/IP since RFC 956
FreeBSD committer       | BSD since 4.3-tahoe    
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.