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On Sat, 2004-03-20 at 07:45, John Nilsson wrote: |
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> 1. Standardize a configuration backend. |
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> Fileformat, parsers, filesystemlocation and that stuff |
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I note that Debian went down this exact road with something called |
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"debconf". Anyone considering doing something formal in this space |
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should install a Debian box somewhere and study what debconf is like. |
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They set out with noble objectives (much the same as what you specified |
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above) but ended up with something quite cryptic, hard to follow, and |
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inconsistent. |
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[Recall how people keep saying "can I see those ebuild messages again"? |
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Same sort of problem] |
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2. Convince developers to follow the standard. |
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Which is tricky - not so much that there aren't uses for it, but rather |
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the mass proliferation of packages means that only some packages use it. |
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More importantly, Gentoo tends to leave configuring software alone, and |
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lets the deploying sysadmin/user deal with it. Debian and RedHat (and..) |
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try to automate creation of a file that may or may not be suitable to |
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your needs, and then layer (in Debian's case) debconf on top of it. |
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The difference between RedHat and Debian in this case is that on a |
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RedHat system you tend to use their tools to interact with the |
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configuration on an ongoing basis. While annoying to us console jockey |
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types, at least its consistent. Debian, on the other hand, tries to |
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accomodate both - you certainly don't revisit debconf... |
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> 3. Interface with it |
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> HTML, QT, GTK anything goes... |
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They never got that far, which is perhaps the problem |
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As ever, we have a lot to learn from each other. |
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AfC |
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Sydney |
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-- |
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Andrew Frederick Cowie |
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Operational Dynamics Consulting Pty Ltd |
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Australia: +61 2 9977 6866 North America: +1 646 472 5054 |
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http://www.operationaldynamics.com/ |
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-- |
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