James Carlson wrote: > Robert Milkowski wrote: > >> Peter Memishian wrote: >> >>> If I could go back in time to 1991, I'd love to change that. In the >>> meantime, we have built up 18+ years of software that may rely on the >>> documented set of characters, so expanding it comes with risk of >>> breaking that software. >>> >>> >> Perhaps user should be warned then when creating such data links instead >> of completely forbiding user to do so? Or maybe a future Solaris 10 >> branded zone should check for it and issue a warning? >> > > What I think you're missing here is that merely warning users is not > enough, if you're worried about future projects. > I understand it.
> Any future project that deals with interface names will be *forced* to > deal with the fact that these strange characters were allowed to be > used, no matter how "discouraged" they might be. > Well, this is where we disagree as I wouldn't call "-" a strange character when it comes to host or data link names. And yes, any future project would have to deal with "-" character in data link names which I don't believe should be a big deal. > The alternative is to ask project designers to build applications that > they _know_ will fail. Under what circumstances is that really the > right answer? > Generally it shouldn't happen - no argue here. Still "-" is not a strange character when assigning host or data link names. I'm putting hostnames and datalinks together here on purpose - crossbow seems to be ideal to use with different virtualization technologies and it is a common practice to name host names like: node-1, node-2, node-3. Then this is common to name containers (zones, domU, VB, ...) after node name so: node-1, node-2,... then when creating vnic's and assigning them to these containers it would be nice to be able to use: node-1, node-2, etc. and not node_1 or node1 or... currently this is possible on Linux, FreeBSD but not on Solaris. And again, no, no future project should break just because datalink contains "-" character - it should be taken into account. >> At the same time I understand that there must be a balance so things >> won't get too complicated for other projects. >> > > That's it exactly. On the one hand, we have completely pointless > flexibility. On the other, we have the unknowns of future projects and > existing third-party dependent applications. Which one is worth more? > Why is it pointless? For me introducing "." as allowed character is more pointless than "-" (but I would like actually both). Allowing "-" while not critical is definitely not pointless. >> I think that one of the things people like about Linux is the freedome >> they get with it. >> > > You've got the same freedom and the same consequences here. As with > Linux, you're free to change the source and make it do whatever you want. > That's not true - as on Linux I get that flexibility without changing source code. >> recommendation on how to use things. For some people backward >> compatibility is paramount for others it almost doesn't matter at all - >> imho the best way is to make both of them happy by providing the >> flexibility and documentation warning about consequences. Still it >> doesn't mean a total freedom like an example in FreeBSD where it allows >> characters which break standard system rc scripts - that of course is >> wrong. >> > > I don't think it's that simple. The freedom that's being taken doesn't > have effects that are easily or reasonably predictable by those who are > taking the chances (in other words: they can't really know that it > "doesn't matter" unless they're able to predict the future), and it > constrains those who are trying to make the system work better. > > I know it seems like a trivial thing, but it's these sorts of trivial > things that add up to make a system either stable over time or a crime > scene I sympathize with above statement, I really do. I'm not arguing for some strange and really pointless characters to be allowed (like "%" on FreeBSD) but rather perfectly valid request for "-" and the only specific example against it so far was some future project which would like to include data link name in smf manifest and would like to use "-" as delimiter. I would argue to allow "-" in data link names and put some more thought on how to deal with it in that (and other) future projects with it. -- Robert Milkowski http://milek.blogspot.com
