Re: [avrdude-dev] [patch #7931] Extended parameters to specify usbtiny USB VID/PID

[David A. Mellis]

Updating avrdude.conf is easier than updating the source code, sure, but it's 
significantly more overhead than passing in command line arguments. My patch 
would make it so that you wouldn't need to do either one to use a usbtiny from 
a different vendor. (You only need to patch the code once, not once per 
usbtiny-variant.) It's important to note that the things I'm trying to support 
aren't really new programmers (from the perspective of avrdude); they're 
functionally identical to a usbtiny but made by a different company. 
Considering the usbtiny is both open-source software and hardware, it seems 
perverse to limit its reproduction just because of the USB VID and PID. 

What do you think?

On Jan 23, 2013, at 5:51 PM, "Weddington, Eric" <address@hidden> wrote:

> Hi David,
> 
> I understand where you're coming from, but it sounds like you're going 
> against the basic design of avrdude. The whole reason why avrdude.conf was 
> created was to be able to add programmers (and devices) without having to 
> recompile avrdude. That's a basic characteristic of the design of avrdude 
> that was adopted very early on in its design.
> 
> The point *is* for anyone who creates a new programmer to update avrdude.conf 
> *as an alternative* to adding new code to the program itself.
> 
> Eric Weddington
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: address@hidden
>> [mailto:address@hidden On
>> Behalf Of David A. Mellis
>> Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 3:46 PM
>> To: David A. Mellis; Rene Liebscher; address@hidden
>> Subject: [avrdude-dev] [patch #7931] Extended parameters to specify
>> usbtiny USB VID/PID
>> 
>> Follow-up Comment #2, patch #7931 (project avrdude):
>> 
>> Rene: interesting idea but that would require everyone who made a new
>> programmer to update avrdude.conf and, more significantly, to get that
>> updated
>> avrdude.conf to everyone who wanted to use their programmer. That
>> amounts to a
>> significant overhead, particularly if you're trying to reach, for
>> example,
>> people getting their avrdude from WinAVR or CrossPack or similar who
>> may not
>> even be aware of the existence of the avrdude.conf. The advantage of
>> command-line arguments is they can be specified after the fact, meaning
>> that
>> avrdude (or, at least, avrdude.conf) doesn't have to know in advance
>> about
>> every usbtiny-compatible programmer.
>> 
>>    _______________________________________________________
>> 
>> Reply to this item at:
>> 
>>  <http://savannah.nongnu.org/patch/?7931>
>> 
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