Hello,

> this idea has been bandied about a few times before, and i even started
> trying to do it about 2.5 years ago (but shortly thereafter, i realized
> that while i though i knew how i wanted to do it, i was actually not
> sure).  strangely enough, i picked it up again about eight months ago
> (almost two years to the day after i started the first time), but this
> time i got it done.

This is very good!

> 
> my mental list of requirements were:
> 
> * sysctl(8) no longer has to be recompiled to be able to display new
> entries (though it still will if the new entry is a "struct", not one of
> the others, and you want it printed intelligently).  it would instead

Why are structs needed? One would think that the sysctl tree is already
structured enough.

> make use of a new sysctlnametomib() function and/or walk the tree by
> itself, learning it on the fly. 

How exacly will the sysctlnametomib() function work? Will it read some
configuration files with MIB definitions, like in SNMP? How will walking
the tree work? Will the kernel know the MIB names and present it to the
userland via some API?

Bye	Pavel