Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@×××.de>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: [gentoo-user] How the HAL are you supposed to use these files?
Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:03:27
Message-Id: 20100208222047.GA6553@muc.de
1 Hi, Gentoo!
2
3 I've just got a sparkling new installation of Gentoo on my new PC. It
4 only took me ~5 hours, mainly because I'd already configured the kernel
5 in a trial run. :-)
6
7 However, I'm now trying to get X up and running. "The X Server
8 Configuration HOWTO", section 3. "Configuring Xorg" says:
9
10 "Hal comes with many premade device rules, also called policies.
11 These policy files are available in /usr/....../policy. Just find a
12 few that suit your needs most closely and copy them to /etc/...."
13
14 "For example, to get a basic working keyboard/mouse combination, you
15 could copy the following files...
16 /usr/.........../10-input-policy.fdi
17 /usr/.........../10-x11-input.fdi"
18
19 . Am I the only person that finds this semantic gibberish? Is there
20 any explanation somewhere of what a "policy" aka "device rule" is? What
21 is the semantic significance of a "device rule"? What does it mean, to
22 "rule a device", or what sort of restrictions are being placed on this
23 device?
24
25 Given that one might desire a "basic working keyboard/mouse
26 combination", what is the chain of reasoning that ends up selecting the
27 file called "10-input-policy.fdi" from all the other ones?
28
29 This file is an inpenetrable stanza of uncommented XML. Are its verbs
30 documented somewhere? What do "<match ...>" and "<append ....>" mean,
31 for example?
32
33 Can this new-style fragmented XML configuration do anything that a good
34 old-fashioned, human-readable and compact xorg.conf can't? If so, what?
35 What am I missing here?
36
37 Please, somebody, tell me all this HAL stuff is straightforwardly
38 explained in an easily accessible Gentoo document, so that I can hang my
39 head in shame and apologise for the noise! ;-)
40
41 --
42 Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).

Replies

Subject Author
Re: [gentoo-user] How the HAL are you supposed to use these files? Iain Buchanan <iaindb@××××××××××××.au>
Re: [gentoo-user] How the HAL are you supposed to use these files? Paul Hartman <paul.hartman+gentoo@×××××.com>
Re: [gentoo-user] How the HAL are you supposed to use these files? Tom Hendrikx <tom@×××××××××.net>
Re: [gentoo-user] How the HAL are you supposed to use these files? Mark Knecht <markknecht@×××××.com>
Re: [gentoo-user] How the HAL are you supposed to use these files? Walter Dnes <waltdnes@××××××××.org>
Re: [gentoo-user] How the HAL are you supposed to use these files? Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@×××××.com>
Re: [gentoo-user] How the HAL are you supposed to use these files? Mike Edenfield <kutulu@××××××.org>