4 ms·

Wait, what? key=value is really so hard that we need to replace m4 with lua? Honestly? Before you feel the need to flame, imagine if this proposal had been for

Wait, what? key=value is really so hard that we need to replace m4 with lua? Honestly? Before you feel the need to flame, imagine if this proposal had been for implementing the config file in COBOL (a language designed to be code readable by non-technical people). Would you still believe it to be a good idea? What ever happened to wanting to keep things simple?

gjm11 17y ago
m4? key=value? Have you ever either read or written an Apache httpd config file?
- jrconlin 17y ago
  yep, on a daily basis. I also handle php.ini, java properties files and a slew of others. (Including the ever loving satan spawn of sendmail.cf). All of which are simple key value pairs. Apache (and a few others) introduce scoping with psuedo XML, but again, it's not complex logic. I brought up m4 because that was the last time someone tried to solve the configuration problem with a "simple and easy" macro language. Yeah, that worked great. Layering Lua (or any language) as your configuration option will not simplify things. In fact, I'm willing to say that it will make it much, much harder as folks suddenly become increasingly "clever" about how they construct those config files. I want my config files stupid. I want them heavily documented so that when I (or someone else) next has to manage them two years from now after working on multiple other projects in various languages and systems, they don't have to spend a week trying to remember what the hell this is doing, deciphering cryptic compile time errors, or wondering what the complex state machine construct someone layered on top of port allocations is supposed to be doing.
  - chad3814 17y ago
    clearly you've never ran any big site (yahoo, netflix, unitedheroes, etc) where complex configs are required.
    - thras 17y ago
      I don't see how that's clear at all. And which of those three do you work at, btw?
      - jrconlin 17y ago
        heh. I used to work at Yahoo, I currently work at Netflix, and my personal site is unitedheroes.net. I also know chad and he's being a dork. (hey, i appreciate a well crafted troll.)

gjm11 17y ago

m4? key=value? Have you ever either read or written an Apache httpd config file?

jrconlin 17y ago
yep, on a daily basis. I also handle php.ini, java properties files and a slew of others. (Including the ever loving satan spawn of sendmail.cf). All of which are simple key value pairs. Apache (and a few others) introduce scoping with psuedo XML, but again, it's not complex logic. I brought up m4 because that was the last time someone tried to solve the configuration problem with a "simple and easy" macro language. Yeah, that worked great. Layering Lua (or any language) as your configuration option will not simplify things. In fact, I'm willing to say that it will make it much, much harder as folks suddenly become increasingly "clever" about how they construct those config files. I want my config files stupid. I want them heavily documented so that when I (or someone else) next has to manage them two years from now after working on multiple other projects in various languages and systems, they don't have to spend a week trying to remember what the hell this is doing, deciphering cryptic compile time errors, or wondering what the complex state machine construct someone layered on top of port allocations is supposed to be doing.
- chad3814 17y ago
  clearly you've never ran any big site (yahoo, netflix, unitedheroes, etc) where complex configs are required.
  - thras 17y ago
    I don't see how that's clear at all. And which of those three do you work at, btw?
    - jrconlin 17y ago
      heh. I used to work at Yahoo, I currently work at Netflix, and my personal site is unitedheroes.net. I also know chad and he's being a dork. (hey, i appreciate a well crafted troll.)