Re: Rumpification (was Re: CVS commit: src/usr.sbin/envstat)

[der Mouse <mouse%Rodents-Montreal.ORG@localhost>]

> I personally believe that a subjective "ugly" metric or problems
> which current experiences suggest to be nonexistent are no grounds
> for objecting to anything which adds functionality.

Actually, I disagree with the first part of that.

NetBSD is - or at least was, and I hope still is - about clean design,
about doing things right.  It has a history of holding up integration
of functionality until it is done right.  (This attitude has paid off,
repeatedly.)

"Ugly", at least when coming from someone with significant experience
in the subject at hand, is an indication that something probably is not
being done right.  There are times when it should be ignored, but it
most certainly is grounds for initially objecting to something, for
calling for more thought to figure out how it can be done righter, or
why doing it the ugly way is actually right nevertheless.

In this case, I am not competent to comment on the subject matter.
Perhaps you _have_ thought about it and found reasons why this way is a
right way despite being ugly - you've said things which could be taken
that way, though not unambiguously.  Or perhaps you disagree about the
judgement that it's ugly.  But I definitely do believe that subjective
aesthetic reactions - eg, "ugly" - are very much worth paying attention
to when they arise from an experienced aesthetic sense.

/~\ The ASCII                             Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
 X  Against HTML                mouse%rodents-montreal.org@localhost
/ \ Email!           7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B