Liane Praza wrote:
> 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. :)
The locale grouping I mentioned previously.
My thought was that the modeling would be something like
repository/property/locale.
>>>> 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.
Ah ha. Thank you for noting that pitfall.
>>>> 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.
I have no such interface, it seems I can just document how to do it with
svcprop for now and let the user take care of it.
Thanks,
--
Shawn Walker
