Re: [Srcpd-devel] New release

[Matthias T. <mt...@we...>]

Hi,

> Setting up a brand new srcpd.conf I had some trouble concerning the flag
> "auto_speed_detection", which is a "general option". I found it makes a
> difference if it is set before or after the bus-type tag:
> 
> 1) [from config file generator]
> <bus>
>    <general_option>...</general_option>
>    <intellibox>
>    </intellibox>
> </bus>
> 
> 2)
> <bus>
>    <intellibox>
>    </intellibox>
>    <general_option>...</general_option>
> </bus>
> 
> In case 1 the flag was simply ignored because here the general option is
> overwritten by default values which are set during bus-setup in
> "read[Cc]onfig_DEVICE".
> 
> May be it is time now to change the file format to something more robust
> like this:
> 
> <bus type=intellibox>
>    <general_option>...</general_option>
>    <specific_option>...</specific_option>
> </bus>

There are only a few general options at all

device
verbosity
use_watchdog
restore_device_settings
auto_power_on
speed
auto_speed_detection (? why is this not an option for speed?)

esp the device settings are commonly used (except for auto_speed,
which does not makes sense for at least the marklin 6051 interface).
On the other hand, there are now very different methods for a device,
that makes it troublesome to integrate serial lines, CAN devices,
ethernet targets (with and without IP) into one settings schema.

If a redesign of the config file is really needed (which I seriously
doubt currently, the name collision can easily avoided by renaming the
affected tag), the above names are good candidates as well. They are
not well-choosen (mea culpa). Thinking about it, it may be a good
strategy to drop all tags except verbosity and watchdog from the
general settings and move all other stuff into the bus specific
sections. auto_power_on can easily be deleted, a smart startup script
can do that as well.

Just my 2c
Matthias