Re: rec/devSup advise needed

[Marty Kraimer <mrk@aps.anl.gov>]

Andrew Johnson wrote:

> 
> Would it be possible to create new versions of the link specifications
> now, as synonyms for the old ones, persuading people to start converting
> to the new format so the old stuff can be deleted in some later release?
> I even wondered about doing host-side conversion from the old to the new
> formats, but I guess that may be harder for some applications.
> 

Could keep link definitions as is and provide old and new
syntax for string format. Then after some release no longer support
old format. Coulds also provide tool to convert old string format to
new.

> IMHO the new formats should not be hard-coded anywhere other than the
> drivers/device support which use them; the "link_type" in the database
> "device" definition should be something else which is definable in an
> ascii file (and convertable into a VME_IO.h file for example, which can be
> #included by the device/driver).  This way anyone could add a new address
> type without needing to rebuild base, but you should still be able to
> retain backwards compatibility for existing device/driver support.

The problem with this is that database configuration tools can no longer
provide "nice" prompts. The user must know proper syntax,
which is what is done with the existing INST_IO link type.
Now dct and gdct and the tcl/tk replacement for dct can give prompts like

   link:
adapter:
   card:
 signal:
   parm:

Marty Kraimer