configuration files

[Chris Pressey]

On Thu, 11 Dec 2003 14:44:43 -0500
Richard Coleman <Richard.Coleman at xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I'm not usually one to ride the xml bandwagon, but in this case I
> think it would be a logical format to use.  Since it's text, you
> always have the escape hatch of editing it manually.  But since it's
> structured, it facilitates syntax checking and using tools to create
> them.

FWIW, I've never quite understood this argument.  If you have a hex
editor, you have the "escape hatch" of editing *anything* manually; and
just because something "is text" doesn't necessarily make it easy to
edit correctly - especially when the "text" in question is a SGML
descendant possibly encoded in a multi-byte character set...

Also, the bikeshed should be a ninety foot tall geodesic dome painted
with hippie-daisies.  :)

-Chris