Porting OpenBSD's sysctl hw.sensors framework to FreeBSD (was: Re: PERFORCE change 123040 for review)

Poul-Henning Kamp phk at phk.freebsd.dk
Tue Jul 10 21:43:47 UTC 2007


A number of observations:

The main problem about hardware monitoring is the lack of a name-space.

The OpenBSD sysctl doesn't get anywhere close to providing that.

Putting stuff in the kernel is not a magic solution to that problem,
as we have seen far too many examples of, starting with the socket(2)
mistake in early BSD UNIX, and reaching a preliminary pinnacle with
the SysV IPC mechanisms.

The first task therefore, must be to design a namespace where all
the assorted pieces of software can contribute their measurements
and registrations.

Once that's designed, we can start to argue if the code should live
in the kernel, userland or in ports.

But please don't import any half-assed "Ohh, I'll just hack this in
there" non-solutions.

-- 
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.


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