some comments on geom(8)

[Pawel Jakub Dawidek]

On Thu, May 20, 2004 at 12:42:16PM +0200, Poul-Henning Kamp wrote:
+> 
+> These are merely comments and not binding in any way.
+> 
+> The idea behind the gctl_*(9) api was to avoid class specific code
+> in userland to the extent possible and to converge on a common command
+> set for geom classes to make life easier and more intuitive for
+> administrators.
+> 
+> For a simple operation like "create", I have a hard time seeing why
+> we need class specific code in userland.
+> 
+> I would expect to be able to type:
+> 
+> 	create stripe ad0s1 ad1s1
+> 
+> into geom(8) and see it construct a g_ctl containing:
+> 
+> 	verb		"create"
+> 	class		"stripe"
+> 	nprovider	"2"
+> 	provider0	"ad0s1"
+> 	provider1	"ad1s1"
+> 
+> which I would expect the geom_stripe class in the kernel to understand.
+> 
+> If I had typed
+> 
+> 	create stripe -stripe 64 ad0s1 ad1s1
+> 
+> It would be:
+> 
+> 	verb		"create"
+> 	class		"stripe"
+> 	nprovider	"2"
+> 	provider0	"ad0s1"
+> 	provider1	"ad1s1"
+> 	stripe		"64"
+> 
+> Similar
+> 	destroy foobar
+> should examine the XML status to find the class of the "foobar"
+> generate something like:
+> 
+> 	verb		"destroy"
+> 	class		"foo"
+> 	target		"foobar"
+> 
+> But as I said: these are non-binding comments, do it which ever 
+> way makes sense to you guys.

I agree, but I've found it quite hard to implement, because
for example in CONCAT and STRIPE class there are two ways to
create it: manual way and auto-configuration way.
In your example we have to interpret keywords in kernel and we can't
provide 'usage' without communicating with kernel part.

Also to all commands I want to pass to the kernel, for example:
'gconcat label', 'gconcat clear'.

I think geom(8) stays in the middle. It is very easy to write
class-specific utility and if it works like your example one have
to only prepare one structure with commands and options description
and no code at all.

I want to send more detailed description on current@ after commiting
manual pages.

-- 
Pawel Jakub Dawidek                       http://www.FreeBSD.org
pjd at FreeBSD.org                           http://garage.freebsd.pl
FreeBSD committer                         Am I Evil? Yes, I Am!
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