Bug 34184

On Tue, Jan 22, 2002 at 11:21:05PM +0100, Thomas Quinot wrote:
> 
> >Number:         34184
> >Category:       docs
> >Synopsis:       Document "sysctl variable=/dev/foo" syntax
> >Originator:     Thomas Quinot
> >Release:        FreeBSD 4.5-RC i386
> >Organization:
> 	
> >Description:
> 	sysctl.c rev. 1.40 introduced the possibility of changing
> 	dev_t variables by specifying the name of a special file as
> 	the value. Since I was the one guilty of implementing that,
> 	I figured I should punish myself by documenting it.

Nice :)  Just a couple of comments..

> >Fix:
> 
> @@ -135,7 +136,17 @@
>  .Xr sysctl 3 .
>  .Pp
>  The changeable column indicates whether a process with appropriate
> -privilege can change the value.
> +privilege can change the value. String, integer, and devices
> +values can be set using
> +.Xr sysctl 8 .

I think new sentences should start on a new line in mdoc manual pages.
Also, since this *is* the sysctl(8) manual page, it might be better
to refer to the sysctl command by simply using .Nm here.

> +For device values,
> +.Ar value
> +can be specified as a character special file name. Special

New sentence on a new line, as above.

> +values
> +.Ar off
> +and
> +.Ar none
> +denote ``no device''.

.Dq no device .

Other than that, looks fine to me.

G'luck,
Peter

-- 
This sentence contradicts itself - or rather - well, no, actually it doesn't!

Peter,

First of all thanks for the feedback on this PR!

Le 2002-01-23, Peter Pentchev écrivait :

> I think new sentences should start on a new line in mdoc manual pages.

OK, I was not aware of that rule.

> Also, since this *is* the sysctl(8) manual page, it might be better
> to refer to the sysctl command by simply using .Nm here.

Absolutely right.

> .Dq no device .

That's nroff wizardry to me ;)
 
> Other than that, looks fine to me.

OK, here is an updated patch:

Index: sysctl.8
===================================================================
RCS file: /home/ncvs/src/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.8,v
retrieving revision 1.43
diff -u -r1.43 sysctl.8
--- sysctl.8	16 Jan 2002 06:55:29 -0000	1.43
+++ sysctl.8	23 Jan 2002 15:30:30 -0000
@@ -120,7 +120,8 @@
 .Pp
 The information available from
 .Nm
-consists of integers, strings, and opaques.
+consists of integers, strings, devices (dev_t),
+and opaque types.
 .Nm Sysctl
 only knows about a couple of opaque types, and will resort to hexdumps
 for the rest.
@@ -136,6 +137,18 @@
 .Pp
 The changeable column indicates whether a process with appropriate
 privilege can change the value.
+String, integer, and devices values can be set using
+.Nm sysctl .
+.Pp
+For device values,
+.Ar value
+can be specified as a character special file name.
+Special values
+.Ar off
+and
+.Ar none
+denote
+.Dq no device .
 .Bl -column security.bsd.unprivileged_read_msgbuf integerxxx
 .It Sy "Name	Type	Changeable
 .It "kern.ostype	string	no
@@ -164,6 +177,7 @@
 .It "kern.osreldate	string	no
 .It "kern.bootfile	string	yes
 .It "kern.corefile	string	yes
+.It "kern.dumpdev	dev_t	yes
 .It "kern.logsigexit	integer	yes
 .It "security.bsd.suser_enabled	integer	yes
 .It "security.bsd.see_other_uids	integer	yes
@@ -213,6 +227,14 @@
 per uid to 1000, one would use the following request:
 .Pp
 .Dl "sysctl kern.maxprocperuid=1000"
+.Pp
+The device used for crash dumps can be specified using:
+.Pp
+.Dl "sysctl kern.dumpdev=/dev/somedev
+.Pp
+which is strictly equivalent to
+.Pp
+.Dl "dumpon /dev/somedev
 .Pp
 Information about the system clock rate may be obtained with:
 .Pp

-- 
    Thomas.Quinot@Cuivre.FR.EU.ORG

On Wed, Jan 23, 2002 at 04:31:43PM +0100, Thomas Quinot wrote:
[snip]
> > .Dq no device .
> 
> That's nroff wizardry to me ;)

Not quite nroff, simply mdoc(7) :)

> > Other than that, looks fine to me.
> 
> OK, here is an updated patch:

This one looks fine, at least to me.

G'luck,
Peter

-- 
The rest of this sentence is written in Thailand, on

Comment 4 dd 2002-03-10 09:54:13 UTC

State Changed
From-To: open->closed

Some mdoc wizardry fixed, some added, and patch committed.  Thanks for 
taking the time to document this!