hdparm.conf

[Jason Voegele]

On Sat, July 23, 2005 1:55 pm, Chanchao said:
> Rant follows:
>
> Linux programmers seem to delight using these comment-characters (#) to
> 'disable' certain commands, so they become like examples. It even
> enriched the English language with the verbs 'to uncomment' and 'to
> comment out'.
>
> Very often when configuring stuff in Linux, it involves opening a config
> file that already includes loads of settings, but some, most, or all of
> them have been 'commented out' using #-characters.  You can then select
> the settings you need by removing the # character using a text editor.
>
> All of this is the result of lazyness on the part of the developer(s)
> who didn't bother to program a basic screen or wizard to configure
> things. Furthermore, they even convinced themselves that config files
> are a Good Thing!   As yet, they haven't convince me though.

It has nothing to do with laziness and everything to do with separation of
concerns.  A properly designed program has no idea whether its
configuration file was hand written with vi or generated by some fancy GUI
"wizard", it just knows that it needs a configuration file with a certain
format.  So, given that a config file is necessary, one way to modify a
program's configuration is to hand edit the config file with an editor. 
Another way might be a GUI program provided by a distribution or desktop
environment.

But by no means should hdparm be providing its own GUI wizard.  Indeed,
hdparm is also used in a server environment where a graphical environment
might not even be installed.

-- 
Jason Voegele
"There is an essential core at the center of each man and woman that
remains unaltered no matter how life's externals may be transformed
or recombined. But it's smaller than we think."
    -- Gene Wolfe, The Book of the Long Sun