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Alan Mackenzie wrote: |
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> Hi, Gentoo! |
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> |
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> I've just got a sparkling new installation of Gentoo on my new PC. It |
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> only took me ~5 hours, mainly because I'd already configured the kernel |
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> in a trial run. :-) |
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> |
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> However, I'm now trying to get X up and running. "The X Server |
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> Configuration HOWTO", section 3. "Configuring Xorg" says: |
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> |
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> "Hal comes with many premade device rules, also called policies. |
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> These policy files are available in /usr/....../policy. Just find a |
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> few that suit your needs most closely and copy them to /etc/...." |
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> |
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> "For example, to get a basic working keyboard/mouse combination, you |
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> could copy the following files... |
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> /usr/.........../10-input-policy.fdi |
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> /usr/.........../10-x11-input.fdi" |
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> |
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> Am I the only person that finds this semantic gibberish? Is there |
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> any explanation somewhere of what a "policy" aka "device rule" is? What |
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> is the semantic significance of a "device rule"? What does it mean, to |
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> "rule a device", or what sort of restrictions are being placed on this |
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> device? |
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> |
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> Given that one might desire a "basic working keyboard/mouse |
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> combination", what is the chain of reasoning that ends up selecting the |
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> file called "10-input-policy.fdi" from all the other ones? |
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> |
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> This file is an inpenetrable stanza of uncommented XML. Are its verbs |
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> documented somewhere? What do "<match ...>" and "<append ....>" mean, |
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> for example? |
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> |
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> Can this new-style fragmented XML configuration do anything that a good |
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> old-fashioned, human-readable and compact xorg.conf can't? If so, what? |
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> What am I missing here? |
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> |
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> Please, somebody, tell me all this HAL stuff is straightforwardly |
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> explained in an easily accessible Gentoo document, so that I can hang my |
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> head in shame and apologise for the noise! ;-) |
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> |
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|
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First, give xorg a chance to figure it out by itself. Most stuff works |
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here without any HAL tinkering: |
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|
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$ ls -l /etc/hal/fdi/policy/ |
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total 0 |
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$ |
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|
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Maybe the documentation is a bit too much here, it should probably say |
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that you should start working with the HAL policies when you notice that |
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some things are not working right (and when that happens do something |
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like echo 'keyboard-type missing-feature HAL example' > google) |
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|
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-- |
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Regards, |
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Tom |
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