Work item list: dumping

[Eric S. Raymond]

Hal Murray <hmurray at megapathdsl.net>:
> 
> Eric said:
> > Possible work item (me): Change Mode 6 so it no longer ships system status
> > bits in hex, decoding them into a string token list instead, old behavior
> > preserved under ENABLE_CLASSIC_MODE. This is because the PLL* definitions
> > aren't guaranteed to be consistent across different system versions. 
> 
> > Work item: New Mode 6 responses that unpack status bits into list of string
> > tags for the status bits.  Avoids potential problem with PLL bits (outside
> > our control) changing due to kernel mods. 
> 
> I think the first should be dropped in favor of the second.
> 
> I don't see how to make ENABLE_CLASSIC_MODE help with this problem.  There 
> are 4 possible combinations of server and ntpq with and without 
> ENABLE_CLASSIC_MODE.  We want all of them to work.
> 
> I think the new send-string case works if it is sent with a different tag in 
> addition to the old hex mode.
> 
> I agree that it is possible for different PLL implementations to assign 
> different bit values to flags, but none of them have done it yet and it would 
> cause all sorts of confusion.  I'd be happy to add a warning at build time.  
> (or require a configuration option to get past a fatal error)

Your amendments seem completely reasonable, OK.
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