[sane-devel] SANE2 and backend configuration

[Henning Meier-Geinitz]

Hi,

On Thu, Mar 13, 2003 at 03:15:20PM +0100, stef wrote:
> 	Currently each backend parse its config file with its own function. Could it
> be a good idea to have config options described by a system similar to scanning
> options (name, title, type, description, ...) ?

I think that's too complicated (but I haven't really thought too much
about that yet). Can't we just define some standard options?

E.g.:

scsi ...
usb vendor product
pio/parport (?)
device /path/to/device
option ...

Maybe:
manufacurer/product name

> This would allow sharing the parsing code between backends, better
> checking of the config files and would allow a 'configuration
> frontend'.

I'm not sure if that really helps. We should put all effort in making
autodetection possible. .conf files should only used for the scsi/usb
lines, for debugging and for global defaults. So usually the user
shouldn't need to change them. Options that affect the devices should
be done as SANE options (e.g. time for heating up the lamp). Well,
that's at least my opinion.

> 	Could such a change take place in SANE2 ?

As this doesn't change the SANE API nor any internal API, we could
start immediately. There is no need to change all backends at once.
Well, realistically, the unmaintained backends won't be changed ever.

Bye,
  Henning