Google Summer of Code: ifconfig on-line help & auto-completion

[David Young <dyoung%pobox.com@localhost>]

Students: I have thought of an ifconfig(8) project for the Summer of
Code.  Apply if you're interested.

Ifconfig's command-line parser consists of an extensible "parse graph"
and "driver routines" that match tokens on the command-line with
consecutive edges on the parse graph.  Every path from the graph's
start-node to a terminal node corresponds to a legal command sentence.

In the new modular architecture of ifconfig, the addition/omission of
loadable objects changes adds/omits portions of the parse graph, thus
changing the language of command sentences that ifconfig understands.
Ifconfig's on-line help changes, too, as the set of loadable objects
changes, if the author of the object writes a usage function that prints
a string such as "[ maxupd n ] [ syncdev iface ] [syncpeer peer_addr]".

Ifconfig should be able to derive on-line help by, for example, taking
a depth-first walk of its parse graph and recording the keywords or
syntax types (integer, string, ...) matched by each edge.  Furthermore,
ifconfig should be able to prompt the user with the syntax that
completes an unfinished command, and with the help of a 'complete'
command in tcsh(1), tab-completion of ifconfig commands should be
possible.

To complete this project, you need to know how to both check out NetBSD
sources from CVS and build them using build.sh.  You need to be a C
programmer.  You will have to work closely with your mentor and provide
status updates weekly.

Dave

-- 
David Young             OJC Technologies
dyoung%ojctech.com@localhost      Urbana, IL * (217) 278-3933