Re: sysinst split project - The Configuration File

[Jason Thorpe <thorpej%shagadelic.org@localhost>]

On Dec 15, 2009, at 3:40 PM, George Michaelson wrote:

> I use OSX as my day-job computer, with NetBSD at home on my raidframe 
> filestore, and on virtualboxen.
> 
> I'd be quite happy with an XML based configuration file methodology. 
> 
> After all, OSX uses .plist files. -So, I'm already 'there' for some value of 
> there.

Right, and NetBSD's proplib is compatible with Apple XML plist files.  And a 
bonus for the XML haters out there... it's not even a full-blown XML reader ... 
proplib is hard-coded for XML plists, so no need to pull in an XML library or 
even the DTD.

> Complexity of editing? phui. Please. Don't try my patience. vi/emacs/ed and 
> grep and sed and now shell level XML tools to do grep? I'm happy.
> 
> I'll trade size for consistency any time. the files are huge? they're still 
> smaller than boot-time VESA logo .GIF images!
> 
> To the lua fans. Look, I don't disbelieve you that this can work, or other OS 
> do this. But, I'm struggling to see this fitting naturally into a BSD 
> community framework. OpenBSD and FreeBSD and Dragonfly are not just 
> 'interesting' -there is active codeshare. I worry that this step is a step 
> which winds up reducing mindshare, and codeshare, irreversably.
> 
> So, as a (l)user not a developer, please, leave lua on the pkgsrc side, for 
> now. Do XML because its a small, natural step, and it looks to me that in the 
> BSD mindspace, its already 'there' -in OSX

To be fair ... OS X does not have any BSD-level APIs for manipulating plists 
(although there are command line tools that consume/produce them)... the 
lowest-level API available for those is CF.

> 
> -George
> 

-- thorpej