Re: identifying module types

[Yoshinori K. Okuji]

On Wednesday 13 December 2006 01:07, Hollis Blanchard wrote:
> I guess I'm not clear on this. The modules must be enumerated in some
> order, whether manually by the user or in a config file or by a script.
> Wouldn't it be appropriate to require that this order be preserved?

The problem is that there is no universal way to specify what an "order 
specified by the user" means. If the spec defines that it is a must, the spec 
must specify how a boot loader accepts user input, etc.

> Are you envisioning a scenario like a collection of "module" files in a
> menuentry.d directory, and then what is the order?

Not really, but I think this is a good point.

> Xen could go on depending on the ordering, with the caveat that
> bootloaders which reorder modules won't work.

I agree.

> That only works if module->type is of fixed size. What size would you
> like?

Ah, I got it. So it is necessary to terminate a type with a NUL value and pack 
it into a tag.

> Aside from the arbitrary user-visible limit, a fixed size may make
> namespace collisions more likely (though certainly we would need to
> account for collisions even if the size were variable).

Right.

Okuji