[gpsd-dev] Where to apply scaling

[Eric S. Raymond]

Christian Gagneraud <address@hidden>:
> Currently in driver_ais.c an offset is applied for certain message
> fields (IMO 236 and IMO289 met/hydro message), and a scaling is done
> conditionally in gpsd_json.c.
> I think it would be better to apply the offset and the scaling in
> gpsd_json.c. Do you have any objection on doing this?

Unfortunately, I thought of an objection. The shm interface.

Because some clients will be reading the AIS report structures
directly from the daemon via shared memory, all *lossless* preparation
of the data (in particular, offset applications) should be done in the
device driver.  This will reduce the number of magic constants that 
client software has to know about.

Lossy transformations (scaling) should continue to be done optionally 
in gpsd_json.c.  
-- 
                <a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/";>Eric S. Raymond</a>

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