legal but rude

JimMcGrath at oaktech.com JimMcGrath at oaktech.com
Fri Feb 21 16:12:57 PST 2003


* From the T10 Reflector (t10 at t10.org), posted by:
* JimMcGrath at oaktech.com
*






BTW, I agree with Pat and Ken that just compliance to a standard is not
adequate for a good supplier - one needs also to look into the particulars
of your target customers.  But this can be quite different from designing
to "what everyone knows."   And while designing above and beyond the
requirements of a standard is a good practice, designing at least to a
standard is really a necessary practice in this interoperable world.

That's my biggest objection - the belief that some parties in the industry
(e.g. host manufacturers) don't need to adhere to a documented standard
like everyone else.  In theory the interface standards are equally binding
on host and device.  In practice hosts often feel able to ignore a standard
entirely.

The block size issue is actually a good example.  If "everyone knows" that
you cannot use a block size > 4Kbytes, then why is not that in the standard
(afterall, we put in lots of limits)?  I suspect the issue is either the
fact that it is NOT an "everyone knows" item, or it is one, but no one with
that knowledge bothers to contributes to standards development.  On this
particular issue I suspect the former, but in other cases it could very
well be the latter.  In either case, I would place a lesser share of the
blame on device developers.

Jim



                                                                                                                                       
                      JimMcGrath at oaktec                                                                                                
                      h.com                    To:       LAVARRE at iomega.com                                                            
                      Sent by:                 cc:       owner-t10 at t10.org, t10 at t10.org                                                
                      owner-t10 at t10.org        Subject:  Re: legal but rude                                                            
                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                       
                      02/21/2003 01:08                                                                                                 
                      PM                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                       




* From the T10 Reflector (t10 at t10.org), posted by:
* JimMcGrath at oaktech.com
*






Pat,

That problem is with the "everyone knows" that hosts expect block sizes to
be <= 4KBytes.  As you point out, that is not generally documented anywhere
(in, for instance, a standard), and so it is not clear that "everyone
knows."  Indeed, the reason why devices have standards to begin with is
that it is not reasonable to expect all host designers to know what
"everyone knows" about devices.  So it is with respect to device designers
with respect to hosts.

Bottom line is that the purposes of documents is to, well, document.
Unless something is documented, it is not reasonable to expect designers to
magically "know" about something (especially if it is debatable as to
whether that knowledge is actually true).  It is certainly not reasonable
to expect a procurement organization to request compliance with "what
everyone knows" (as opposed to a standard) to insure compatibility.

Jim





                      "Pat LaVarre"

                      <LAVARRE at iomega.c        To:       <t10 at t10.org>

                      om>                      cc:

                      Sent by:                 Subject:  legal but rude

                      owner-t10 at t10.org



                      02/21/2003 10:28

                      AM







* From the T10 Reflector (t10 at t10.org), posted by:
* "Pat LaVarre" <LAVARRE at iomega.com>
*
By the way, I find a number of engineers find the "legal but rude" concept
difficult to learn.

Anybody got a better way to explain it?

The kind of design I mean by this phrase includes choosing plug 'n play
descriptors, such as op x12 Inquiry data, formed strictly in accord with
the merely public merely standard paper specs ... that in fact don't
interoperate well because they aren't normal.  Of course I can't easily
discuss any real & current examples, but here's an analogous hypothetical.

Suppose someone actually built a device with an op x12 Inquiry that
returned x00 DASD as the byte 0 & x1F PDT (PeripheralDeviceType) but then
responded to op x25 ReadCapacity with a blockLength larger than x1000 B =
4KiB.

All the paper specs say this is utterly legit.  But if you actually go
build such a thing, the host i/o chokes, because "everyone knows" that the
block size of any HDD is supposed to be as small or smaller than a virtual
memory page, and "almot everyone knows" that the block size of x00 DASD is
supposed to be x200 B = 512 B = 0.5KiB.

I say the device and the host here are being "rude".  This other engineer
said only the host was "rude", because the paper spec covers the device, so
the device is "legal", and there is no paper spec for the host.  I say
neither would have got caught being rude if the other had been polite.  I
say we know they are mutually rude because the system breaks, despite half
of the system, the device, being completely legal by any reasonable reading
of the merely public merely standard paper specs.

What can this engineer be thinking, to say only the host is rude?

How can I explain that the device here is equally rude?

Cluelessly, curiously, thankfully yours, and a Happy Friday to you, Pat
LaVarre

P.S. If by chance I err and some paper spec does tell us that block size
other than 0.5 KiB isn't legal for PDT = x00 DASD, that rather misses the
point.  The point is we can tell it's rude before we even ask if it's
legal.

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