Dieter Plaetinck <[email protected]> writes: > On Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:40:55 +0200 > Alexander Rødseth <[email protected]> wrote: >> However, I also wonder, if you were to write AIF from scratch, how >> would you do it? > > if i would rewrite it, i'ld do it in python. bash has many limitations which i > needed to work around (specifically wrt modules that need to override/inherit > stuff, datastructures to describe complicated filesystem arrangements (json, > yaml?) and other datastructures to pass data around (lists, dictionaries) > would > be useful) > that said, you often just want to execute commands directly. for that, it's > hard to beat bash.
While in general I wouldn't prefer it over python, I think ruby hits a fairly sweet spot here. >> And, would it make sense to have "machine configuration packages" that >> could be search and installed by users, so that setting up an Arch box >> as say, a media server, would be as easy as "aif -S mediaserver"? > > a package is not the right thing to use. it's not easy to quickly customize, > and you're bound by the limits of what a package can do. > a config file for an installer (like aif) is more appropriate. Strong +1 . I think there could be something to be said for purpose-tailored 'sets of software and configs' that encompass more than one peice of software, but packages aren't the right abstraction. -- Jeremiah Dodds github: https://github.com/jdodds irc : exhortatory
