could this be changed so that it's named say stepgen.00.step_max_vel and the value is then calculated to add the 20% internaly
thus removing one common error
Well in some cases you want it not 20% higher. for instance when using to drive a spindle. (the spindle is not planned by motion)
The 20% more requirement is because of the interaction with motion. We have to remember that HAL components can be used without linuxcnc
so we don't want to fix linuxcnc problems while making plain HAL problems :0
The nicest way is to support math with INI substitution. (like the HAL two pass solution)