Shawn Walker wrote:
> Liane Praza wrote:
>> Shawn Walker wrote:
>>> Greetings,
>>>
>>> I had some questions about SMF manifests that I was hoping someone
>>> could answer. I've spent read through the available documentation
>>> that I could find, but I still could not find anything that explains
>>> these items:
>>>
>>> 1. What are the differences between the different propval types
>>> (e.g. count, integer, etc.)? Is there a document somewhere that
>>> explicitly defines what each of these data types expects for a value
>>> (format, limits, etc.)?
>>
>> Hopefully the table in scf_value_create(3scf) helps.
>
> It would be really great if this were documented in the service_bundle
> manpage or in the dtd itself :|
There's already a bug that service_bundle is woefully short. It'd be
helpful if you could file one against the DTD, too, though.
>
>>> 2. Is it possible to create property groups of property groups
>>> (the dtd suggests that this is not possible)?
>>
>> Correct. Not possible.
>
> Hrm, someone mentioned that:
>
> You can manage a pool of configuration values using the property group
> mechanism, with an overall property group listing the relevant group
> or groups for each member.
>
> What did they mean by that then?
I have some ideas. (A property group which contains a property with a
list of property groups that should be incorporated is my best guess.)
But, without understanding the configuration you're modeling, and
without being the person who suggested this, I can only guess. :)
>
>>> 3. Is it possible to conditionally specify options to a program in
>>> its start method based on a property value? In other words, if I have:
>>>
>>> <propval name='error_log' type='astring' value='stderr' />
>>>
>>> ...can my start method conditionally include a --log-errors
>>> command-line option to my program based on the value of the propval?
>>
>> Sure. Most people do this like it's done in
>> /lib/svc/method/console-login.
>
> So the workaround is to use a wrapper script that manipulates svcprops.
> Was hoping for something in the XML, but if I have to, that will do.
You can directly incorporate properties using the %{} syntax in a
method. But, that's rarely a reasonable specification for command line
options because then you just end up with a property list of command
line options, and no way to do upgrade of the configuration later
without parsing the list and guessing (usually poorly) at the admin's
intent.
>
>>> 4. I have a need for users to be able to specify values to the
>>> program based on locale. This is not the locale that the program is
>>> running in, but the locale of the content being generated by the
>>> program. For example, I have a property group called "repository"
>>> and a propval called "name". What is the best way for them to be
>>> able to specify a value for "name" for each locale (e.g. en, fr, etc.)?
>>
>> We currently do this with a convention of appending the locale name to
>> the property name. We don't have explicit formal support for it at
>> this point, though.
>
> That format would require me to specify a propval for each supported
> locale though would it not? Would it be better to use a multiple-value
> property instead and have the user pre-pend the locale to each value
> (e.g. en:value, fr:value)?
Why would you need to specify one a priori? The property would just be
created by your UI when it was specified by the user, I'd think.
liane
