Not sure if this is what you guys are discussing about, but try http://www.sol-linux.com/
Cheers, J.Lo On Jan 26, 2008 10:49 PM, Chris Henry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, > I'm sitting on the fence on this, more towards keeping the old way though. > > I generally like text-based configuration because I can auto-generate > the configuration using shell scripts. I can also easily grep the part > that i want to see with a combination of cat | grep. Another pro I can > think of is its portability across systems without any need to install > extra config tools. I can easily transfer a conf file across Linux > boxes or even to other *nixes easily (provided the software is > portable as well). You can tailor your conf file to be as simple or as > complicated to suit your software's needs. > > Of course on the other hand, the conf file might look very scary at > first (then again, I think Windows registries are worse) and > uniformity would be great. Looking at the amount of configuration > available even on the simplest packages, I think centralized system > will also be pretty difficult to configure. One obvious advantage of > centralized system is that you know your configuration is there, you > won't need to remember /etc/.....conf, etc. > > Now, interestingly, Solaris (starting from version 10) has something > similar to what you just described. They have a centralized SMF > (Service Management Facility). It doesn't collect config files, but it > collect init scripts together. With SMF, developers only need to write > an XML file to be supplied to the SMF. The file will describe the > dependencies, and initialization stuffs for the service. It's > well-received since the old init way (that's prevalent in all *nixes, > including UNIX) is quite jarring to organize, especially when many of > the scripts depend on one another. (Btw, Debian solved the problem by > using auto-calculated dependencies, I think it's in lenny, the next > stable candidate.) > > It will be interesting to see similar efforts done to config files. > I'm sure we'll have many people arguing over the pros and cons when > such movements start. > > Regards, > Chris > > > On Jan 26, 2008 6:04 PM, Kokhong Cheng <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi All, > > > > I would like to bring up the topic of Linux configuration. > > > > Linux (and Unix) systems have long used disparate, free-form, text-based > > configuration files in /etc/ for configuration. > > > > What are some of the drawbacks of this approach? > > > > Application developers have to write their own configuration parsing > > engine. (of course once they have written the first one, the rest > > becomes easy, but still, there is this initial hurdle to productivity) > > The lack of a consistent/reliable interface to change configuration, > > take for example, pppd, vpnc, and dhclient will all overwrite > > /etc/resolv.conf with their own settings. > > Configuration change is not user-friendly - it took me a few years to > > understand the sudoers format - how many Linux users actually have the > > skills or patience to understand the grammar of the file? To make > > matters worse, different applications have their own grammar. > > > > Working with embedded systems, all the solutions I have encountered > > (some are proprietary, but most are Linux based) utilize a central > > "configuration manager" with configuration options organized in a tree > > structure, stored in an XML file. This configuration manager acts as a > > middle-man for the traditional applications that still read proprietary > > configuration files by creating these files with the required settings. > > > > One application I have found that embraces a centralized configuration > > is monowall http://m0n0.ch/. > > > > I think it is high time to define and implement such a system for > > mainstream Linux systems. I would like to ask if there already exist > > efforts to have a "config manager" for mainstream Linux system, and at > > the same time, ask for your views on this topic - whether you support or > > oppose the idea - and what are some of the considerations that we have > > to be mindful of? > > > > Thanks! > > Kokhong > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Slugnet mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://www.lugs.org.sg/mailman/listinfo/slugnet > > > > > > -- > contact: +65 97553292 > e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] / [EMAIL PROTECTED] / > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > facebook: http://nus.facebook.com/profile.php?id=502687583 > > _______________________________________________ > Slugnet mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.lugs.org.sg/mailman/listinfo/slugnet >
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