On Tue, 26 Jan 1999, Robert G. Brown wrote:
>To continue with the Slackware vs Red Hat comparison, let us contrast
>their network startup. In slackware, this is handled by
>/etc/rc.d/rc.inet[1,2], called in that order. These are human readable;
>all network variables used (including those set by install scripts) are
>set directly in the scripts where they are used. Consequently, the
>scripts are trivial to modify by hand and you can read them and see how
>they work at a glance. rc.inet1 is really totally trivial and yet
>totally effective at starting up a network -- ifconfig, route, done.
>rc.inet2 is messier, but still pretty readable and easy to change if you
>know /bin/sh at all (and even if you don't).
I would like to add to this discussion by briefly stating what I think should
be a major requirement in the design of the "ideal" paradigm. I work for a very
large telecommunication firm, and have had lots of experience working on very
large projects in very large environments. Any paradigm which combines code and
data is easy to look at, and, in a small system, easy to manage. It does not
scale, however, as the environment, and the corresponding administrative
complexities grow. It is, in my opinion, essential to have a paradigm in which
the data is kept strictly separate from the code if one wants to have a system
which is truly scalable. The ease and reliability of long term maintainability,
including things like upgrading, are far more important than the apparent
simplicity of short term hacking and tweaking.
--
Dave Mielke | 856 Grenon Avenue | I believe that the Bible is the
Phone: 1-613-726-0014 | Ottawa, Ontario | Word of God. Please contact me
EMail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Canada K2B 6G3 | if you're concerned about Hell.
