LXer: Torvalds intentionally complicates his use of indentation in kconfig

LXer · 04-17-2024, 06:10 AM

Published at LXer:

The paramount penguin forces more robust whitespace handlingLinux supremo Linus Torvalds has made the use of indentation in kernel config files more ambiguous – intentionally, to weed out inferior parsers.…

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BenCollver · 04-17-2024, 09:21 AM

Quote:

This seems to us to be an instance of Postel's Law, which Postel enshrined in RFC 761 in 1980: Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send.

Isn't it actually the opposite of Postel's Law? Linus is being liberal in what he sends.

boughtonp · 04-17-2024, 10:21 AM

Liam Proven (the article author) is saying that Linus is forcing parsers to be more robust - i.e. forcing parsers to obey Jon Postel's robustness principle (which is how Jon titles it in Section 2.10 of TCP's RFC 761; why use eponymy when descriptiveness is the same number of words).

I've noticed Liam likes writing in a way that someone with an English degree can argue is technically not incorrect, even if the audience has to read it three times to get what they are saying.