Hi all,
I was looking at the new facility of dumping JSON,XML from many utils in base
and after some funny minutes, I couldn't stop ask myself “ Ok, this is funny ,
but why ? “ And I couldn't find a real answer. Ill outline what I think:
1. Undoubtedly, it makes base code slightly harder to understand and maintain.
2. I have seen the idea that this makes the information dumped by utilities in
the base easily accessible programatically. OK, maybe it does , but
it doesn't fit with the current paradigm of "tool | filter | tool” at all.
There are no tools able to accept JSON and filter it in any meaningful way, and I
dont see too many ppl changing their code to read JSON instead of text. I
don't even see the base tools changing. This output may be useful in corner
cases only.
3. The integration of libxo IMO only points at a much deeper issue IMO. It is
only an expression of the need of a mechanism aimed at binary code reuse. But
it does not solve the problem, it only adds yet another possibility in a world
where too much choices already result in too much splits and incompatible APIs.
4. This whole effort would have been IMO much better served by porting the
bulk of ifconfig(8) , route(8) and wpaclient(8) to a library API, much like the
libs for geom, zfs , etc , ready for reuse of 3rd party code. Eventually
writing network control daemons in time over it , much like solaris does.
5. A port of partial OS config data to UCL …. would induce yet induce another
orthogonality violation. What makes UCL better than the bestiary of ad hoc
databases already existing in BSDs ? Programatic readability, yes. but it does
not add any real much needed functionality such as *transactional databases*
for system tools. Why not research a proper solution - easily accessible by
other programs ,orthogonal , transactional, and ACL protected solution which
can be used all over the place , from OS boot, to ABI management, service
management, network management, user management. I hope this day will come, a
day when I will not have to edit a single config file manually, yet I would
have access to all the config and system state easy with wrapper APIs. In the
light of this point, why go with UCL ? It is not orthogonal, it is not
transnational, and editing the config files directly would result in the same
old human errors which bite as all from time to time.
5. It is my opinion that Solaris addressed some of those issue. Solaris FMRI
and SMF are lightyears ahead of the very tired models we keep using on BSDs.
Why not build on the insight offered by those (or even on the insight offered
by Windows :P) , then inventing more adhoc solutions and ad-hoc databases,
which do not address the real issues we have , like binary code reuse, service
management issues, lack of a system wide published -subscriber bus ( not kdbus
:P ) fault detection and reaction, fault reporting, all much needed parts of a
modern OS.
And now thee questions
1. Why lib XO ? Why burden the OS for some corner cases where it may be useful ?
2. Was there any real talk on how to bring FreeBSD up to speed regarding those
issues ? A period of research on what exists, on what can be done , and ensure
important things are not showed in background and replaced with yet another
ad-hoc config database which lacks modern features ?
From where I am standing, this could be a project spawning multiple years ,
but it would be well worth it, and in my opinion it would be also worthy of
the freeSBD foundation sponsorship for several years in a row. The features I
touched upon became very important parts of oder OSes, and rightly so.
Note:
this message is serious and it is not intended to start flame wars, religious
crusades, or offend anyone.
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