Hi All,
I would like to bring up the topic of Linux configuration.
Linux (and Unix) systems have long used disparate, free-form, text-based
configuration files in /etc/ for configuration.
What are some of the drawbacks of this approach?
Application developers have to write their own configuration parsing
engine. (of course once they have written the first one, the rest
becomes easy, but still, there is this initial hurdle to productivity)
The lack of a consistent/reliable interface to change configuration,
take for example, pppd, vpnc, and dhclient will all overwrite
/etc/resolv.conf with their own settings.
Configuration change is not user-friendly - it took me a few years to
understand the sudoers format - how many Linux users actually have the
skills or patience to understand the grammar of the file? To make
matters worse, different applications have their own grammar.
Working with embedded systems, all the solutions I have encountered
(some are proprietary, but most are Linux based) utilize a central
"configuration manager" with configuration options organized in a tree
structure, stored in an XML file. This configuration manager acts as a
middle-man for the traditional applications that still read proprietary
configuration files by creating these files with the required settings.
One application I have found that embraces a centralized configuration
is monowall http://m0n0.ch/.
I think it is high time to define and implement such a system for
mainstream Linux systems. I would like to ask if there already exist
efforts to have a "config manager" for mainstream Linux system, and at
the same time, ask for your views on this topic - whether you support or
oppose the idea - and what are some of the considerations that we have
to be mindful of?
Thanks!
Kokhong
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