[virt-tools-list] [libosinfo 7/8] rfc: Infer ISO language from label

[Daniel P. Berrange]

On Tue, Dec 04, 2012 at 04:08:00PM +0200, Zeeshan Ali (Khattak) wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 1:01 PM, Daniel P. Berrange <berrange at redhat.com> wrote:
> > On Tue, Dec 04, 2012 at 11:47:06AM +0100, Christophe Fergeau wrote:
> >> On Mon, Dec 03, 2012 at 06:30:18PM +0200, Zeeshan Ali (Khattak) wrote:
> >> > I agree with you that it would be nice to avoid this mapping all
> >> > together but if its not possible/feasible, these mappings should be in
> >> > the XML like rest of OS specific stuff.
> >>
> >> I could do that, but the C code would still have to match the regex with
> >> data from the table, which is only useful to Windows anyway, so the C code
> >> would still be somehow Windows specific.
> >
> > Looking at the problem more broadly, I believe we have a general need
> > to have OS specific data maps for several installation aspects. In the
> > OsinfoInstallConfig class we have setters for the keyboard layout,
> > language,
> 
> AFAICT, we already have solution for those. It involves maps but in
> the xml itself.

The benefit of having t datamaps explicitly represented in the API
is that it allows apps to determine which mappings are actually
valid for a given OS. ie not all OS support all possible keymaps

> > This ISO language extraction is just another example of the need for
> > a general datamap capability IMHO, and while we only see it for Windows
> > currently, I would not be suprised if other OS we encounter in the future
> > need it too.
> >
> > I did actually start hacking up datamap support, but never finished it.
> 
> Not sure there is really a need to do mapping in the code for at least
> the installers. Apart from app developers, we need to think about
> non-C-hackers to be able to add data (including installer script
> templates). If we put this in C, anyone wanting to add a new OS and/or
> its installer will then be required to have to hack on libosinfo in C.

Huh, no, that's not right. Adding a new OS in the XML will just require
adding a new datamap in the XML too. Never touching C code. The existing
GVirInstallSCript class will automatically identify the required datamap
and apply the mapping to properties being passed in

Daniel