[avrdude-dev] Q: change "safemode" default?

[Joerg Wunsch]

Hi *,

I intend to name the upcoming new release of AVRDUDE V6.0, as there
have been many changes recently, including larger ones (like direct
ELF file reading).

Now, bumping the major version number allows to also introduce some
things that aren't completely backwards-compatible.  I already
disabled the default readout of the last four EEPROM locations (for
the erase cycle counter), which used to be there to announce the user
that an erase cycle counter possibly already exists even if no -y/-Y
option was given.

Given all my past experience, I now also tend to disable the
"safemode" feature except for the ancient bitbang programming adapters
it once has been designed for.

Historical note: with those bitbang adapters, it could occasionally
happen on bad wiring, or due to missing line drivers, that signaly
flipped unintentionally, worst case leading to unsolicited fuse
modifications.  This eventually led to the invention of the "safemode"
feature.

With all the programmers that are in use these days (in particular
with the official Atmel tools), I've never seen anything like this
ever happening.  All the safemode alerts I've seen in the past were
rather caused by other effects (like an ISP clock that's been
completely off, with the -F option being in effect, or a really
damaged device), and thus false alarms which could not have been
remedied anyway.  (safemode is already permanently disabled for Xmega
devices as it does not make sense there.)

Opinions on this?  If there are no objections, how to handle those
programmers that have safemode disabled?  Should we add an option -S
to force safemode anyway?  My fear is that if we add that option,
nobody would ever use it, so it results in a wasted option letter.
(We've alredy got 23 option letters right now, and I do need another
one for the individual Xmega memory region erase operations.)
-- 
cheers, J"org               .-.-.   --... ...--   -.. .  DL8DTL

http://www.sax.de/~joerg/                        NIC: JW11-RIPE
Never trust an operating system you don't have sources for. ;-)