On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 14:31:44 -0400 (EDT) Charlie Brady <charlieb-dovecot@e-smith.com> 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'm only using the "imap" program from dovecot(*), and that follows the same convention (in standard usage, its environment variables are set by the dovecot frontends).
When replacing a configuration file with command-line options and/or environment variables, you still end up with configuration files. The difference is in syntax; with environment variables and CLI options, your "configuration files" will take the form of executable scripts, most likely in either shell or Perl syntax.
It's also nastier to represent complex structures in single-line expressions, though I don't believe dovecot currently has anything so complex.