We need to capture data on corner cases

[James Browning]

On Fri, Feb 5, 2021, at 3:20 PM Hal Murray via devel <devel at ntpsec.org>
wrote:

>
> [Context is retrying DNS lookups when an interface appears.]
>
> James Browning said:
> > When combined with some other code in the DNS path it is wrong-headed.
> "let's
> > retry DNS every 5 minutes or whenever someone acts on the netlink
> socket, and
> > pack on extra pool servers until we have twenty." It will probably come
> back
> > in a diminished form later. If you absolutely must dns_try_again
> periodically
> > it a couple of single line fixes to ntp_io:837 and ntp_io:325, switching
> to
> > true and maybe a new period respectively.
>
> Our code is full of quirks/hacks that catch obscure real-world cases.
> Most of
> the time, the code is just clutter.  On the other hand, if your
> environment
> triggers that case, that small chunk of code is wonderful.
>
> I think we need a structured way of collecting and documenting this sort
> of
> thing.
>
> Should we put a big comment in the code?  With a stylized tag so we can
> find
> them all.  If you are working on other stuff, that's just adding to the
> clutter.
>

I read on the Internet that comments are useless. I occasionally notice
them despite the fade to gray tendency. Yeah, I ripped out the following.
It was essentially invisible in my not-an-ide and the rat brain is fallible.
-       /*
-       ** Classic Bug 2672: Some OSes (MacOSX, Linux) don't block spoofed
::1
-       */


> Should we collect the descriptions in another file and add pointers both
> ways?
>

Possibly. If it happens I would like to start the name suggestions with
'codescars' after [1] and something I thought I had read on an
Internet site but can no longer find there.

[1] http://www.labelscar.com/
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