Bug 38289

Comment 1 Giorgos Keramidas 2002-05-21 16:31:06 UTC

On 2002-05-19 17:44, Dmitry Morozovsky wrote:
> --- ata.4.orig  Sun May 19 17:32:19 2002
> +++ ata.4       Sun May 19 17:38:53 2002
> @@ -76,7 +76,9 @@
>  (WARNING might cause data loss on power failures)
>  .It Va hw.ata.tags
>  set to 1 to enable Tagged Queuing support, 0 to disable (default is disabled)
>  (only IBM DPTA and DTLA drives support that)
> +.Pp
> +XXX THIS FEATURE IS CURRENTLY BROKEN -- Do not try to enable it! XXX
>  .El
>  .Sh DESCRIPTION
>  This driver provides access to disk drives, ATAPI CD-ROM and DVD drives,

I don't think "XXX" is a nice thing to have in running text.  I tend
to view the manpages as text that can be part of a typeset document,
printed in PostScript form by a local printer.  Moreover, the manpages
should not document brokenness that can be fixed, for fear that they
will continue to document brokenness long after the bug has been
fixed, if the author of the code doesn't know that the manpage states
the code is broken.  A comment in LINT should be enough to let the
users know that this particular feature might be the source of
problems, when they're editing their kernel configuration and enabling
the option.

Of course, this is my humble opinion ;-)

-- 
Giorgos Keramidas    - http://www.FreeBSD.org
keramida@FreeBSD.org - The Power to Serve

On Tue, 21 May 2002, Giorgos Keramidas wrote:

[snip]
GK> > +.Pp
GK> > +XXX THIS FEATURE IS CURRENTLY BROKEN -- Do not try to enable it! XXX
GK> >  .El
GK> >  .Sh DESCRIPTION
GK> >  This driver provides access to disk drives, ATAPI CD-ROM and DVD drives,
GK>
GK> I don't think "XXX" is a nice thing to have in running text.  I tend
GK> to view the manpages as text that can be part of a typeset document,
GK> printed in PostScript form by a local printer.  Moreover, the manpages
GK> should not document brokenness that can be fixed, for fear that they
GK> will continue to document brokenness long after the bug has been
GK> fixed, if the author of the code doesn't know that the manpage states
GK> the code is broken.  A comment in LINT should be enough to let the
GK> users know that this particular feature might be the source of
GK> problems, when they're editing their kernel configuration and enabling
GK> the option.

Well, then I tend to agree ;-) Maybe just comment this section out from
the manpage? Adding comment to LINT is not a good idea for me as long as
ATA tags are no longer kernel compile-time option.

Anyway, I think it should be documented some way.

Sincerely,
D.Marck                                   [DM5020, DM268-RIPE, DM3-RIPN]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*** Dmitry Morozovsky --- D.Marck --- Wild Woozle --- marck@rinet.ru ***
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Comment 3 Giorgos Keramidas 2002-05-22 14:37:22 UTC

On 2002-05-22 02:10, Dmitry Morozovsky wrote:
> The following reply was made to PR docs/38289; it has been noted by GNATS.
>
>  Well, then I tend to agree ;-) Maybe just comment this section out from
>  the manpage? Adding comment to LINT is not a good idea for me as long as
>  ATA tags are no longer kernel compile-time option.

It is a sysctl in CURRENT.

	% sysctl -a | grep tags
	hw.ata.tags: 0

It's a sysctl in RELENG_4 too, and it is documented in the manpage as
being disabled by default.

- Giorgos

Comment 4 Bruce A. Mah 2002-06-11 01:38:35 UTC

State Changed
From-To: open->closed

The fact that some users have experienced problems with ATA tagged 
queueing has been documented in the release notes.