XML based startup scripts

[Gabriel Ambuehl]

MJ> Thanks a lot for the links. Seems like YAML + python could be a killer combo.

Oh please no. Python is a really nice scripting language, but it's HUGE.
Something like it has no place in the boot phase. You wouldn't go
about writing init in Perl would you?

As for XML configuration: I have mixed views on it. For complex data
structures, there's clearly a case to be made (something in the order
of apache.conf) but for comparatively simple stuff, it's too much
typing if you administrate it by hand.

As for configuration tools: IMHO it's much more important to provide
a fundament others can build upon. If you provide a library, tool
writers don't really care for the underlaying format anymore as they
can work with a (hopefully) clean interface. If you absolutely need to
change formats under the hood, stuff won't break as long as the
semantics stay close enough. Unless it's very performance critical
(which clearly isn't the case here), abstraction to reach decoupling
of only semi related stuff usually is a good idea. It should also help
security a lot if there's ONE code base to audit instead of one for
each tool....





Regards,
Gabriel