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

[Gerhard Jaeger]

On Wednesday 23 February 2005 22:37, Oliver Rauch wrote:
>=20
> > but you give no reasons why! you just repeatedly say we are doing wrong=
=2E=20
> > that is not constructive.
> >=20
> > yes, what the vendors do is odd and divergent from the normal sane=20
> > installation (suse's insistence on resmgr comes to mind) but if you adm=
it=20
> > that there is a 'bad situation', the how about some ideas to fix it,=20
> > instead of hoping it will go away?
>=20
> What I say is: it is better when it is not necessary to tweak any config
> files than to have a good tool to tweak the config files.
>=20
> When you want to have a reason for this then you also can ask for a
> reason for: "It is better to be not ill than to have a good doctor".
>=20
okay, okay ;)

the intention was, that sane should work out of the box, BUT in fact it
doesn't anymore. We really have too much different config-entries, which
need to be tweaked.

In times, where everybody (of course there are some exceptions ;) wants
a graphical configuration frontend, we should really improve the situation
here - and we should improve it in a way, that a new version is compatible
to the older one.=20

I fully understand the positions of the various distri guys. If you want
to increase acceptance of Linux, then you should have a comfortable
configuration tool (yes - with a GUI), that allows an easy setup.
We currently have .conf files, .desc files and the dll.conf to enable/
disable a backend. The .conf file is territory of each backend maintainer
and thus there are no limits, which is confusing, as some backends work
without touching the .conf file others did not.

I also agree, that introducing such stuff as PPD or XML might not be the=20
correct way, as I think its oversized, but improving the internal API to=20
support external  configuration tools - or better, we provide also a=20
config tool as demo on our own.

=46rom a users point of view, he will buy or download a distri, plug-in
the devices - all devices - he owns, and wants a running and working
system. And he wants a tool, with which he can tweak settings.

In the end, we need an easy to use AND handle way to unify the scanner
descriptions and to give the distri guys the possibility to create
tools for configuration:

=2D install SANE
=2D ask what is supported
=2D select what is wanted
=2D show the available options
=2D select and test if scanner works
=2D done

And I think to get this, we have to do something - BUT this will
be SANE2.

Ciao,
Gerhard