[dpdk-dev] [PATCH v2 6/6] cfgfile: add support for empty value string

[Dumitrescu, Cristian]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Legacy, Allain [mailto:Allain.Legacy at windriver.com]
> Sent: Monday, March 27, 2017 12:13 PM
> To: Dumitrescu, Cristian <cristian.dumitrescu at intel.com>; Richardson, Bruce
> <bruce.richardson at intel.com>
> Cc: yuanhan.liu at linux.intel.com; dev at dpdk.org
> Subject: RE: [PATCH v2 6/6] cfgfile: add support for empty value string
> 
> We have a legacy file format that we need to support.   Other parts of our
> system are able to handle a "key=" entry in the file so we are trying to gain
> parity with those parsers.
> 
> Allain
> 
> 
> Allain Legacy, Software Developer
> direct 613.270.2279  fax 613.492.7870 skype allain.legacy
> 
> 
> 

OK, for legacy reasons I am OK to allow this feature, but please let's have the user explicitly ask for it by providing a specific flag for it in the flags argument of the load/load_with_params functions.

> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Dumitrescu, Cristian [mailto:cristian.dumitrescu at intel.com]
> > Sent: Monday, March 27, 2017 6:55 AM
> > To: Legacy, Allain; RICHARDSON, BRUCE
> > Cc: yuanhan.liu at linux.intel.com; dev at dpdk.org
> > Subject: RE: [PATCH v2 6/6] cfgfile: add support for empty value string
> >
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Allain Legacy [mailto:allain.legacy at windriver.com]
> > > Sent: Thursday, March 9, 2017 1:11 PM
> > > To: Richardson, Bruce <bruce.richardson at intel.com>; Dumitrescu,
> > > Cristian <cristian.dumitrescu at intel.com>
> > > Cc: yuanhan.liu at linux.intel.com; dev at dpdk.org
> > > Subject: [PATCH v2 6/6] cfgfile: add support for empty value string
> > >
> > > This commit adds support to the cfgfile library for parsing a
> > > key=value line that has no value string specified (e.g., "key=").
> > > This can be used to override a configuration attribute that has a
> > > default value or default list of values to set it back to an undefined
> > > value to disable functionality.
> > >
> >
> > IMO allowing empty string key values is confusing and should not be
> allowed.
> >
> > I think there are better alternatives for setting a key to its default value:
> > 	key = default
> > 	key = DEFAULT
> > 	key = <the specific default value>
> >
> > Any reason not to use these approaches?
>