sysctl text definitions.

[Peter Jeremy]

On Thu, Jan 24, 2008 at 02:19:36PM -0800, Alfred Perlstein wrote:
>Hey guys, something that I've always wanted to do was actually somehow
>export those handy description strings from the kernel SYSCTL macros
>in the least obtrusive method possible.

Likewise.

>The only thing I could come up with that didn't require compiling the
>files twice was to basically do some tricks where the text strings
>wound up in some throw-away section of the object files.

Many years ago I started to look at this:  My idea was to stick the
description strings into an ELF section that was not loaded.

>Then these would be copied into /boot or maybe some other place
>as part of the install process.

If the relevant ELF sections are marked unloadable then there's no
reason not to just leave them in the kernel/kld file.

>Any ideas/pointers on how to do this linker magic?

This is where I failed:  My ld-foo wasn't sufficient to create the
required linker scripts to make it all work.  I don't remember if
I kept the work I did.  I thought I mentioned it on a mailing list
but can't find it in my home archives or on google.

-- 
Peter Jeremy
Please excuse any delays as the result of my ISP's inability to implement
an MTA that is either RFC2821-compliant or matches their claimed behaviour.
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