Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 10 Nov 2006 21:27:43 -0800 | From | "H. Peter Anvin" <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH] sysctl: Undeprecate sys_sysctl (take 2) |
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Eric W. Biederman wrote: > Andi Kleen <ak@suse.de> writes: > >> On Wednesday 08 November 2006 20:58, Eric W. Biederman wrote: >>> The basic issue is that despite have been ``deprecated'' and >>> warned about as a very bad thing in the man pages since it's >>> inception there are a few real users of sys_sysctl. >> But they only seem to use a small number of actually used with >> sysctl(2) sysctls. >> I still think just maintaining a conversion table for >> those is the right thing to do. > > I don't know. Every distinct user of the binary sysctl interface > used a different entry. So the fact that there are a small number of > programs and thus a small number of sysctls used I agree with. I do > not agree with the conclusion that we can predict the set of binary > sysctl that are in use. We do not get good enough feedback from > the user community. > > I don't have a problem with the principle of a conversion table > if it meant that we would never add any additional binary sysctls. >
Okay, my opinion now...
I think we should change the sysctl system so most sysctls simply aren't accessible through the binary interface. The rest of them should be documented in one place, preferrably machine-readable.
However, I think having the binary sysctls available as a limited last resort is better than adding ad hoc system calls all over the place, like sys_mips.
-hpa
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