Re: git: 225639e7db68 - main - vt: Disable bell by default

From: Gleb Smirnoff <glebius_at_freebsd.org>
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2021 17:11:05 UTC
  Emmanuel,

On Wed, Oct 20, 2021 at 01:42:37PM +0200, Emmanuel Vadot wrote:
E>  Stop using POLA for "This is a change that I don't agree with".

A change that just changes the system behaviour and nothing else,
is a POLA violation.

E>  In the past weeks we had commits that changed mixer(8) cli in a
E> non-backward compatible way and changed the root shell. For both you
E> haven't complain so it means that either you don't care or you agree
E> with those changes.

Mixer and root shell weren't like your change. Mixer is a complete
rewrite which has some technical background to justify it. Root shell
is also different to what you did. It is not flip of a binary switch.

E>  I agree that the bell is clearly a user preference and also I could
E> have left the review opened for more time (but I've been there and
E> usually you have review/feedback the first day and after it's silent).
E> I wish there was an easy way for developer (and community member) to
E> create a poll for changes like that but we don't have one right now.
E>  Now based on the number of people who reviewed and the people who sent
E> me private message to thanks me for this change I think that more
E> people are annoyed by the bell than people who wants it and we want
E> sane default that most users agrees on in base FreeBSD. If you don't
E> agree with the defaults we have a way to change them.

To me this looks like abuse of committer priveleges. I got commit bit,
so I can change the defaults.

Speaking of the bell itself. It is of course very annoying on some
laptops, especially if the laptop is used by someone else, not you.
But it is extremely useful when working in a loud server room on
a console, reviving a crashed machine, usually in a very stressful
environment. Gives feeling of machine being responsive or not being
responsive.

So it is more a question of server vs desktop default. Okay, let's
ignore the biased opinion that FreeBSD is a server OS. But I would
assert that vt(4) is a way more used on servers, rather than on
laptops. If somebody is using vt(4) instead of X on a laptop, then
this person is special. Either really impared, as Shawn suggested,
or just a geek who hates GUI. In the latter case, they should tweak
the configuration.

-- 
Gleb Smirnoff