sane config files [was [sane-devel] Infrared channel]]

[m. allan noah]

most respectfully oliver, i disagree. perhaps your points about scanner 
damage, etc are true in your backend because of models of scanners that 
you support, but for my backend, it is far more likely that there is an 
odd variation on the scanner that the backend does not know about, but 
works just like an existing model.

also, the current sane method of loading every backend under the sun 
trying to find the owner works, but is not very efficient, especially in 
systems where there is only one scanner, and it does not change. my linux 
box does not do this with all the known ethernet drivers everytime i ifup 
eth0!

hence, the vendors have scanner tools that attempt to modify the dll.conf 
to only load the right backends.one could make a strong case for finding 
ways to do more in hotplug, instead of via such manual tools, and 
it would seem that a very clear mapping between scanner models and 
backends is the best way to do this. two different vendor representatives 
have told us that the current conf/desc setup is not cutting it.

we are just discussing alternatives.

allan

On Wed, 23 Feb 2005, Oliver Rauch wrote:

> Hello.
>
> I do not understand the discussion about the sane config file format.
>
> In a usual/normal case the config file of a backend should not be
> touched by a user or configuration program:
> - We do not need to enter any device files because the sanei_* routines
> search the devices and passes them to the backend.
> - The position of a firmware file should be defined by a rule like a
> path prefix and the backend an device name, e.g.
>  /pathto_foo/sane/firmware/umax/astra1220u.firmware
> - The backend knows what devices it does support. It is dangerous when
> you tell the backend to handle an unknown device as an already known
> device. You can break the scanner with a bad setup.
> When someone contacts me because he things my backend could support his
> scanner then I do some tests with his help and tell him what he can
> change in the config file.
>
> It is dangerous when a setup program or an unexperienced user is
> changing the config file. For supported scanners it generally is not
> necessary to change anything in the config file.
>
> I suggest to discuss how we can make the sane-backends work without any
> config file changes. The first versions of SANE did work out of the box
> for supported devices. There is no need for tweaking config files.
>
> We have to define how a backend can find a firmware file and how a setup
> program does now where to put a firmware version. There is no need to
> change any config files for this reason.
>
> Oliver
>
>
>

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