configuration files

[Dave Leimbach]

James Frazer <jfrazer at xxxxxxxx> writes:

> Just a hypothetical question I've been pondering lately:
> 
> I'm just wondering what the future holds for configuration files found
> in /etc (or wherever for that matter) ?  Are we ever going to see a
> shift towards an XML based config-system?  Or is the general consensus
> that 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' ?

Here is my vote for I really hope we never use XML for configuration
files.  Its a real pain in the butt to type all thos <> </> tags.  For 
sufficiently deep XML trees its also error for humans to correctly
type the correct ending tag with a matching begin tag.  

I use XML a lot... I like it for things like DocBook but I sure don't
want to edit it by hand.

> 
> I know there's a lot of merit/legacy in the standard *nix way of doing
> config files, but it seems kind of logical that an XML based
> config-system would be the next step.  It's still text based, and
> therefore can be edited by hand (if necessary), but it can also be
> validated to ensure correctness (in structure & syntax).
> 

The validation against a DTD or Schema is a nice option of course but
again you still have to type all those damned tags :)

> Is there any interest in this sort of thing?
> 

I like the part that gives me validation ability but I am not willing
to sacrifice my wrists for this change.

> I'm just curious,
> 
> 
> --James

Dave