On Thu, 10 Jul 2003, Mark E. Mallett wrote:
Back to the topic, I'd rather there wasn't a configuration file at all. I've got very used to Dan Berstein/Bruce Guenter software where environment variables and command line arguments are the only configuration.
I also agree here- that kind of control is nice for some things, particularly when those things are simple boolean switches (enable/disable), and especially when it makes sense to control those things at runtime on a discrete basis.
Agreed.
However note "environment variables and command line arguments only" is not necessarily the philosophy for djb's stuff (I'm afraid I have no experience with the other).
However, avoiding parsing *is* a clear policy of his, with, I think, considerable payback in reliability and simplicity of control.
qmail, for example, has a raft of control files that, well, control its operation.
Sure, but they are all *very* simple in format.
And sometimes more complex configurations do make sense, for example for where encapsulations of multiple settings are common.
Such encapsulation can usually be done another way, for example by having
multiple directories, each holding a collection of simple config files.
ezmlm, for instance, works this way.
-- Charlie