From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Thu, 3 May 2001 11:58:32 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Thu, 3 May 2001 11:58:22 -0400 Received: from snark.tuxedo.org ([207.106.50.26]:44296 "EHLO snark.thyrsus.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Thu, 3 May 2001 11:58:10 -0400 Date: Thu, 3 May 2001 11:58:48 -0400 From: "Eric S. Raymond" To: David Mansfield Cc: Alexander Viro , Ingo Oeser , CML2 , kbuild-devel@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: Why recovering from broken configs is too hard Message-ID: <20010503115848.F31960@thyrsus.com> Reply-To: esr@thyrsus.com Mail-Followup-To: "Eric S. Raymond" , David Mansfield , Alexander Viro , Ingo Oeser , CML2 , kbuild-devel@lists.sourceforge.net In-Reply-To: <20010503104511.C754@nightmaster.csn.tu-chemnitz.de> <20010503054349.C28728@thyrsus.com> <3AF17135.F52C889D@dm.ultramaster.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <3AF17135.F52C889D@dm.ultramaster.com>; from lkml@dm.ultramaster.com on Thu, May 03, 2001 at 10:54:45AM -0400 Organization: Eric Conspiracy Secret Labs X-Eric-Conspiracy: There is no conspiracy Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org David Mansfield : > If so, given the above ruleset involving symbols A, B and C, and given > that such a ruleset is violated for some reason (you don't even care > why), use the following approach: > > set C to 'n' -> are we ok? > set B to 'n' -> are we ok? > set A to 'n' -> are we ok? > > Inform the user of each change. In a massively broken configuration you > could end up with a lot of stuff set to 'n' ultimately, but I think that > this generally would just end up shutting off troublesome configuration > settings, and requiring that the user then reset them manually. Actually this is the best idea I've seen yet, because the single "known-good" configuration is almost all n values. -- Eric S. Raymond Let us hope our weapons are never needed --but do not forget what the common people knew when they demanded the Bill of Rights: An armed citizenry is the first defense, the best defense, and the final defense against tyranny. If guns are outlawed, only the government will have guns. Only the police, the secret police, the military, the hired servants of our rulers. Only the government -- and a few outlaws. I intend to be among the outlaws. -- Edward Abbey, "Abbey's Road", 1979