Re: [U-Boot] [RFC] env: Fix errors printing on env loading

Dear Sam,

In message 20180718213736.22650-1-semen.protsenko@linaro.org you wrote:

This is just a draft to discuss ideas related to "Make U-Boot log great again" thread.

With this patch we will have something like this:

Attempting to load environment from FAT:
MMC: no card present
** Bad device mmc 0 **
Failed (-5)
Attempting to load environment from MMC: OK

instead of this:

Loading Environment from FAT... MMC: no card present
** Bad device mmc 0 **
Failed (-5)
Loading Environment from MMC... OK

The new output is worse, as it consumes even more lines of output.

The only way I see to do so is to use ASCII escape codes for moving the cursor (in non-error case).

NAK!!! Please keep in mind that output usually goes to a serial port, and should not assume any speific "terminal" capabilities. Even simple in-line "editing" like "overprinting by outputting backspace characters causes a LOT of hassle when you try to parse output for example in automatic test suites.

Adding more complex terminal control or other fancy stuff (like colors etc) is a _strict_ no, no!

I'd also like to add prefixes to error messages, like it's done in [2], but it requires adding one pointer to global data struct.

As I explained befoire, this has a lot of negative consequences. You think about beauty, but please keep functionality and efficiency (boot time) in mind!

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk