On Fri, Nov 14, 2008 at 01:22:47AM +0100, Paul Davis wrote: > On Fri, 2008-11-14 at 01:08 +0100, Fons Adriaensen wrote: > > > Now if someone can point me to some existing docs that > > explain how I can e.g. set the sample clock source on a > > RME MADI card in less than ten lines of C code (knowing > > the parameter names, ranges, etc - no need to find them > > out dynamically, I can read them asound.state) then I'll > > eat my hat. It shouldn't be difficult. On some competing > > systems all it takes is one ioctl(). > > i don't want to defend the lamentable state of the ALSA docs, but this > last shot was a bit cheap Fons. the idea behind the ALSA control API was > that equivalent controls on different cards would be controlled in the > same way.
* If they are equivalent that makes sense. But how ofter are they really ? This one surely isn't. * If that can be done without adding layers of complexity it makes sense. But that is apparently not the case. My conclusion so far is that however low-level, unportable, <insert your favourite negative attribute> a simple ioctl() or equivalent may be, it seems in the end a lot easier to use. Please don't misunderstand my rant. I'm pretty much of the opinion that the whole of ALSA is in a sense a masterpiece of software engineering, of applying engineering principles consistently and without compromise, and that is *not* meant ironically. I'm not questioning the skills, motivation, effort, and good intentions of its designers. But the result misses the mark by a mile in any practical sense, and that is mainly because the high level analysis apparently exists only in the designer's heads. It must exist there - they couldn't have written all of ALSA without it. If they had spend a fraction of the time wasted to write useless documentation to explain that, things would be different. Ciao, -- FA Laboratorio di Acustica ed Elettroacustica Parma, Italia Lascia la spina, cogli la rosa. _______________________________________________ Linux-audio-dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.linuxaudio.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-audio-dev
