MM> Note these arguments are the standard anti-xml arguments given by
MM> most idots..
The XML proposals I've seen have been of the form ``I've just met
Goedel in the lift, and he told me XML is a good idea, so why don't
you folks implement XML for the server configuration file.'' Yours is
the first half-commitment to produce a sample implementation.
None of us, I believe, are ``idots'' (whatever that means). We're
also not anti-XML, but rather sceptics who want to see what a change
of this magnitude in habits and configuration tools will bring. There
is no doubt that a well-documented and well-written sample imple-
mentation accompanied with rationale would do wonders to dissipate
some of this scepticism.
MM> Xml provides off the shelf standard parsing and validation
I know that. I also know how to write /ad hoc/ parsers (I believe
that's usually taught in third year), so I'd like to see what exactly
using XML will buy us.
What exactly are you thinking about? Using off-the-shelf XML parsers
in configuration tools? (Obviously.) Using XSLT within configuration
tools? (Why not, after all?) Using some RPC-over-HTTP-over-TCP-over-IP
for remote configuration? (Hmm.) Some other techniques that I
haven't though of yet?
In short, don't treat us like Neanderthals who haven't seen The One
True Way. Give us something intelligent to disagree or perhaps even
agree with.
MM> it usefulness is well proven in many areas.
... and I met Church in the lift and he told me it's useful.
MM> The XF86Config maps well to XML ...
By design, any tree structure maps well to XML. And any tree
structure maps well to SGML, and any tree structure maps well to Lisp
S-Exps, and any tree structure maps well to the XF86Config format.
(While we're off topic, any tree structure can be embedded within
Cantor's space, which can be shown to be isomorphic to the real line.)
MM> If XFree is willing to accept it in the tree its trivial to
MM> implement.
And it's not trivial to implement if XFree86 aren't? Aren't you
putting something before something else, or whatever the idiom is?
Juliusz
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