Re: State of pci.ids
Martin Mares wrote:
I think that changing the format of the file (with other suffix) would
also be helpful, i.e. instead of using tab-indent I would explicitly
writing vendor id (ev. other implicit ids) in every line.
In this manner it is easier to grep for hardware, and also to merge
files from different sources (cat | sort -u), without requiring
external libraries or complex scripts.
It was a "side proposal", and probably offtopic, but anyway.
First, I do not believe it would help anything -- the file would be less
readable, larger and harder to edit. This is not a fair price for
simplifying a couple of scripts.
I agree that the file would be a lot bigger (so no ideal for
installations, but I think it is optimal to compress, and maybe a better
tradeoff between code and data sizes.
Readable: I don't find that actual version is readable, in particular
with biggest vendor (i.e. I need a lot of scroll to see if I'm in the
right section).
Harder to edit: see usb.ids: it is difficult to distinguish tab from
space (but the library could accept 8 spaces as tab).
Second, merging of pci.ids does not help with the updating problem
I have described. Do you see any way how it could?
It was a side note: if you need to change it (because of split, etc.)
I propose to change also the format. Merging different sources is not
so simple (but also not so complex). I would move the logic from code
(and runtime) to data.
Third, while grepping for ID's is appealing, it is nowhere as simple as
it looks -- for example, the subsystems can be present either as
sub-items of the devices, or as stand-alone entries.
Could you elaborate this?
grep '^aaaa bbbb'
grep '^.... .... aaaa bbbb'
would give the subsystem in two simple lines.
But I don't find any of such kind of detection in kernel (e.g.
no checking of subsystem ids without a fix vendor/device ids).
[Note: other files *try* to use the same format, e.g. usb.ids, zorro.ids
and eisa.ids (in kernel sourcers). But usb.ids has frequently spaces
instead of tabs.]
I hope this will get much better soon as a common administration system
for all the ID files is almost finished.
ok. This would be nice! So maybe we could have a common tools that
handle, grep, merge different ids files. This would remove most of my
concerns.
ciao
cate
Reply to: