Re: [PATCH] enable memory mapped access to ethernet

[Guy Harris <guy () alum mit edu>]

Gianluca Varenni wrote:

> why not using a different return value instead of a string message which 
> is human readable but not easily computer readable?

Probably because that's the way that other pcap APIs work.  That doesn't 
mean it's the *right* way to work, it just means it fits in with the way 
the rest of the library works.

A "next-generation" pcap API should probably work differently, as

	1) that allows the application to choose how to react to the error (the 
reaction might be more than just "put up a dialog box");

        2) that allows internationalization of the error.

(That's why Wireshark's library for reading capture files works that 
way, although, for some errors, it also provides an additional text 
string - but that's primarily for the benefit of developers, to give 
details about the error to help them diagnose the problem, not for the 
benefit of users, for whom the additional information is probably 
meaningless.)
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