"Alexander M. Pravking" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > SOME attributes can be set: configuration items. Some cannot be:
> > attributes in the request.
>
> Alan, could you please describe the difference between them and put it
> in the FAQ?
See the 'man' page for the 'users' file. The document described how
the 'users' file is processed. There is NOTHING in there which would
make anyone believe that attributes can be added to the incoming
request. I don't see much point in adding text saying "the 'users'
file doesn't slice bread", or any other list of things it doesn't do.
> Something like (correct me please if it's wrong or incomplete or too
> hard to understand):
>
> Q. What are request attributes?
> Q. What are config/check items for?
This is covered in the 'man' page for the 'users' file.
> Q. Can I use them to re-write Some-Attribute in the request?
> A. No, you can't. Attributes in the request are commonly not changed.
> Try using attr_rewrite module, if you *really* need it.
Or, similarly:
Q: Can radiusd be used to do DHCP?
Q: Can radiusd be used to filter network traffic?
I'm not discounting your questions or proposed answers, but I
believe that the existing documentation is adequate for people who
*read* it.
I don't mind questions like:
Q: I want to edit attributes in the request, but the 'man' page for
the 'users' file doesn't describe how to do this. Can it be
done? If so, how?
That's because the question is based around an end goal, NOT a
particular technique of acheiving that goal. So questions like the
following bug me:
Q: I've been using the 'users' file to edit the request, but it
doesn't seem to work. Can anyone tell me what's wrong with the
server? Is this a bug?
My answer is:
A: What, if anything, led you to believe that the 'users' file could
edit the request?
My biggest problem with that kind of question is that the people
asking it are usually hyper-afraid of stating what their end goal is.
Instead, they keep complaining that the tools they're using aren't
helping them "do what they want", and they refuse to listen when told
that they're using the wrong tools.
The solution is NOT to document each and every dumb thing that
people try to do. There are an infinite number of ways to do things
wrong, and a *much* smaller number of ways of doing things correctly.
So documenting the wrong things is an endless treadmill that leads
nowhere, and helps no one.
So far as the 'users' file goes, I'm willing to add documentation
which better describes how it works. I'm NOT willing to add
documentation which assumes that the user hasn't read the rest of the
documentation, or which assumes that the user an idiot, and is
wondering why the 'users' file won't slice bread.
Yes, this is almost a religious conviction with me.
Alan DeKok.
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