From owner-freebsd-config Fri Apr 24 00:34:48 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id AAA14284 for freebsd-config-outgoing; Fri, 24 Apr 1998 00:34:48 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-config@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from firewall.ftf.dk (root@mail.ftf.dk [129.142.64.2]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id AAA14276 for ; Fri, 24 Apr 1998 00:34:37 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from regnauld@deepo.prosa.dk) Received: from mail.prosa.dk ([192.168.100.2]) by firewall.ftf.dk (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id LAA25805; Fri, 24 Apr 1998 11:31:12 +0200 Received: from deepo.prosa.dk (deepo.prosa.dk [192.168.100.10]) by mail.prosa.dk (8.8.5/8.8.5/prosa-1.1) with ESMTP id JAA00158; Fri, 24 Apr 1998 09:53:36 +0200 (CEST) Received: (from regnauld@localhost) by deepo.prosa.dk (8.8.7/8.8.5/prosa-1.1) id JAA01197; Fri, 24 Apr 1998 09:33:00 +0200 (CEST) Message-ID: <19980424093259.13767@deepo.prosa.dk> Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 09:32:59 +0200 From: Philippe Regnauld To: allen campbell Cc: config@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Config Databases References: <2195.893365441@time.cdrom.com> <199804240710.BAA16897@const.> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: Mutt 0.88e In-Reply-To: <199804240710.BAA16897@const.>; from allen campbell on Fri, Apr 24, 1998 at 01:10:08AM -0600 X-Operating-System: FreeBSD 2.2.5-RELEASE i386 Organization: PROSA Sender: owner-freebsd-config@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk allen campbell writes: > > Most configuration files support some form of comment. Why not > use this facility to report inconsistencies? > > The result of writing a bogus /etc/passwd might look like; [...] > This could make configfs downright helpful. The ability of configfs > to annotate configuration files could be used pro-actively... Hmm, I'm not (for what it's worth) really satisfied with either approach. So far: Jordan suggests that _nothing_ be returned when an error is encountered. -> silently drop the modification: problem: how is the user supposed to know he made a mistake ? You can't rely on the person to manually check after every mod. Allen suggests annotating the "file" (this is configfs) with the related errors. That means once again that the user should check manually. problem: a bit better, but the user still has to go and look In both cases, there is no direct feedback of user failure. Either I missed an episode, or that's a quite unusual way to do things -- and unlike anything else we have: Case 1: vi /etc/group && insert garbage -> something breaks, the user might/will notice -> in any case, he can track down and look in /etc/group and _see_ the mistakes Case 2: vipw && insert garbage -> feedback on what's wrong right away In the first suggestion (silently bouncing) means there's not even _trace_ of the mods, right ? Hmmm.. -- -[ Philippe Regnauld / sysadmin / regnauld@deepo.prosa.dk / +55.4N +11.3E ]- «Pluto placed his bad dog at the entrance of Hades to keep the dead IN and the living OUT! The archetypical corporate firewall?» - S. Kelly Bootle To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-config" in the body of the message