[evla-sw-discuss] [Fwd: Re: An "In Use" flag for the MIB interface]

[Pete Whiteis]

My comments follow:

>This mean a random user will not be able to modify the s-stream
>data rate for any monitor point.  Barry once suggested that this
>mechanism should only prevent a set of the 'value' attribute of
>a command point.  That leaves us a lot of flexibility to modify
>data rates, alarm thresholds or enables and all that useful stuff.
>This is likely to be a more complex implementation, but I think the
>effort will be well repaid.
>  
>

    I'm not sure if I like this. 

    The ability to alter MP/CP attributes "on-the-fly" was implemented 
as a tool to allow problem solving/debugging  on a system duing the 
development stage or while offline.   This "feature" grants the user the 
power to modify / or disable application software behaviour during runtime.

    If the purpose of the "in-use" flag is to protect system 
integrity/data quality while observing, then allowing modification of 
MP/CP attributes seems to be in conflict with our intent.   The  
modification of this data can alter behavior of the operational system 
in the same manner as an erroneous software update.  In the extreme 
case, altering attributes will render a module in-operable.  
Additionally, its easy to create a persistent problem by: changing data, 
getting distracted, forgetting to set it back to default state

     I'm trying to understand (perhaps naively) why we shouldn't 
characterize the attribute settings we need during the debug stage, 
modify them accordingly, and then fix them when the antenna goes 
operational.     Perphaps if there are some specific use cases where 
this is too restrictive, then we should discuss them and see if we can 
develop a solution. 

-P-

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