RE: [Dri-devel] Configuration file format survey

[Vlad S. <vla...@po...>]

When we did the powervr.ini file structure we ported code from our Win32
drivers which used the same file structure. But Win32 offers an API to
read/write those kind of files, while for the Linux driver we had to rewrite
it from scratch. (not fun always :). But it satisfied our needs good enough.

But if you guys decide on a format we might adhere to it since it would be
nice if we simplify our drivers by using a loadable library. Also as far as
time goes we generally cache the file in memory and we flush whenever there
is a write. But then our files are small and timing was not THAT essential.

Vlad Stamate
www.powervr.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Ian Romanick [mailto:id...@us...]
Sent: 28 January 2003 16:19
To: DRI developer's list
Subject: Re: [Dri-devel] Configuration file format survey


Damien Miller wrote:
> Philip Brown wrote:
> 
>> On Mon, Jan 27, 2003 at 11:18:43PM +0100, Felix Kühling wrote:
>>
>>> If anyone has serious objections to XML, please let us know (mail to
>>> dri-devel will suffice ;-).
>>
>> I object. Using xml inevitably leads to files that are completely
>> human-unreadable, except perhaps to the original developers.
>> Please stick with ye olde standard XF86Config type format.
>> It  could be better, but it is CERTAINLY better than XML.
> 
> Perhaps it would be better if there was an example of the type of 
> configuration that would be expressed in the putative configuration file.
> 
> Why would an XFree86 (which I don't much like) or a simple
> 
> [blah]
> foo=bar
> bb={sheep, cows, emus}
> 
> type format be insufficient?

A win.ini type file format was initially considered.  In fact, the Kyro 
binary-only drivers for Linux use this type of format for this same 
purpose.  Using a win.ini format was my first idea, if for no other 
reason than to follow the precedent of the Kyro drivers.  There were two 
reasons this was rejected, neither of which was relevant for the people 
making the Kyro drivers.

We would like to have a single configuration file for all cards in a 
system.  Each of these cards may have differenent hardware and want 
different settings.  Sections in the config file need a way to signal 
that they are global settings (apply to all cards) or which card / 
screen they are for.  We need the same type of selection based on 
application.  Users will likely want to tune differently for Maya than 
for UT 2k3.  That basically gives us a sparse 2D matrix of 
configurations.  There's no logical way to do this with a win.ini file, 
but we could do it with something that is heirarchical and semi-free form.

The other reason we rejected a win.ini format is that we want the driver 
to describe the available options to the configuration utility using the 
same or similar file format as the configuration file.  A win.ini format 
just didn't feel like a good fit for that purpose.



-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.NET email is sponsored by:
SourceForge Enterprise Edition + IBM + LinuxWorld = Something 2 See!
http://www.vasoftware.com
_______________________________________________
Dri-devel mailing list
Dri...@li...
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/dri-devel