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On Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:42:26 +0000, Graham Murray wrote: |
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> >> Why does the app need to know? Browsers normally have an |
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> >> online/offline menu selection and if you try to browse to a site |
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> >> when your network is offline then the browser will generate the |
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> >> appropriate error message. |
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You're on a train, it goes into a 3G dead zone, your mailer hangs until |
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it times out, meaning you can't even read cached mails until that happens. |
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> >> In any case, these notifications are only |
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> >> really of use on a single-homed non LAN connected system. |
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In that particular example, yes. What's wrong with that? There are plenty |
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of people using laptops on wireless connections. |
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> Which still does not explain why the applications need to know when a |
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> network interface goes down but does not need to know when (for example) |
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> the ADSL connection (via an external router) to the 'outside world' goes |
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> down[1]. |
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Who said it doesn't. Those are two separate situations, and a D-Bus aware |
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system can address one of them. Inability to handle the latter is not a |
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valid criticism of the former. That's like criticising a great footballer |
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for being rubbish at tennis. |
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> As far as both the application and the user are concerned the |
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> effect is exactly the same in both cases - the application is |
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> offline. |
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The symptom is the same but the cause, and treatment, are different. |
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> If it is considered important to inform the application of one, |
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> then it should be equally important to inform the application of the |
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> other. If a network interface goes offline then the user needs to know, |
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> so as to take corrective action, but I do not think that telling the web |
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> browser and mail applications is the correct way of informing the user. |
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So the the network manager has to send a D-Bus message to a notification |
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daemon which then tells the user to put his mailer in offline mode, |
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hoping he can do that before it tries to access the server again? I |
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thought computers were supposed to make life easier for us by automating |
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such mundane tasks. Your suggestion is a little like a washing machine |
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beeping at you to say "I've finished the rinse now, switch me to spin" |
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instead of just doing it. |
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-- |
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Neil Bothwick |
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Real women don't have hot flashes, they have power surges. |
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