Apache config

[C . J . Collier]

Hey all,

I'm new to the list so please forgive my ignorance.  I've had an idea 
for a few years (I'm sorry for waiting so long to voice it) involving 
the configuration of Apache.  I tried to write an apache config file 
reader/writer in Perl a year and a half ago or so, and it went poorly.  
This project made me think that perhaps Apache should be able to 
read/write config files that aren't so difficult to parse.

Of course, the first example of an easy-to-parse config file format was 
XML.  But I realize that this will not work, since backwards 
compatibility is important.

If we want to be able to read easier-to-parse config files and we want 
to keep our backward compatibility, it seems to me that we should write 
a modular config file parser.    I could go into implementation, but 
that's no fun right yet.  Plus, if folks think that it's a good idea, 
I'm sure I'll spend plenty of time doing just that :)  I would expect 
to learn something from my frustration, too.  I wouldn't expect the 
config module to only read XML and the current format; I would expect 
the config module to be pluggable, so that we don't have this problem 
in the future.

What I want to know is this:  Does this list feel that it is a 
worthwhile use of my time and the time of the devs to spec out, 
implement, debug and integrate a means of reading arbitrary config 
data?  I realize that it would be a great deal of work, but I can see a 
great deal of benefit that would come from it as well.

Keep me posted,

C.J.