Re: [gentoo-user] Devicekit - especially just for Dale

[Paul Hartman]

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 12:30 PM, Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com> wrote:
> Alan McKinnon wrote:
>>
>> On Monday 18 January 2010 18:26:21 Mike Edenfield wrote:
>>
>>>>
>>>> +1 I do OK with plain text but no clue on the new xml stuff. Why not
>>>> just keep it simple? Is xml REALLY needed?
>>>>
>>>
>>> XML allows you to generate complex, structured, hierarchical data that
>>> can be read, changed, and stored by well-tested third party libraries that
>>> don't need to know anything about the contents or meaning of your
>>> configuration data beforehand.  This means I, as a developer, don't need to
>>> write any code to read and parse configurations, validate the syntax or
>>> structure (only the content), or persist it back out.
>>>
>>> In simpler terms: less time spent on the configuration parser, more time
>>> spent being productive.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Just as code is read many more times than it is written, so is a package
>> configured by the end user many more times than the config parser studied by
>> the developer.
>>
>> Your post makes sense until you realise that the use of XML in a
>> configuration designed to be changed by the user renders the package
>> virtually unusable. Given a choice between me as a developer struggling with
>> a config parser versus vast swathes of users dumping the package because of
>> the same parser, I'd say it's me that has to work harder, not my users.
>>
>>
>
> I'll add this, if devicekit uses xml and doesn't work "out of the box," as
> in me not having to config the thing, then it is no better than hal.  It may
> be that if I could do xml that I could have gotten hal to work.  Thing is, I
> can't do xml at the time.  I suspect that I am not alone on this.
>
> So, it is possible that hal was doomed by xml for me at least.  If devicekit
> uses it, then it may get masked as well.  Sounds like devicekit needs to be
> really good.  I'm sort of hooked on a working keyboard and a mouse for some
> reason.  Call me silly but they sort of make the puter work.

Well I think that if everything works as it is designed to you
shouldn't really need to be editing those XML files in the first
place. I think you're supposed to be able to do all of the relevant
config settings in your desktop environment such as Gnome or KDE (if
you use one). Like setting keyboard mappings, fonts, mouse config,
screen resolution, etc.  The usual stuff that used to go in xorg.conf.

Of course, if your keyboard mapping is wrong and you can't even log-in
to the DE in the first place then configuring it through there will
probably be difficult... :)   And if you don't use Gnome or KDE then
it can get interesting, too...