From owner-freebsd-arch Wed Feb 12 6:11:31 2003 Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 05A1C37B401 for ; Wed, 12 Feb 2003 06:11:30 -0800 (PST) Received: from khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu (khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu [18.24.4.193]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3B19643F93 for ; Wed, 12 Feb 2003 06:11:29 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from wollman@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu) Received: from khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id h1CEBSbs025075 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA bits=168 verify=OK); Wed, 12 Feb 2003 09:11:28 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from wollman@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu) Received: (from wollman@localhost) by khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu (8.12.6/8.12.6/Submit) id h1CEBRSe025071; Wed, 12 Feb 2003 09:11:27 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from wollman) Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 09:11:27 -0500 (EST) From: Garrett Wollman Message-Id: <200302121411.h1CEBRSe025071@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu> To: Wes Peters Cc: arch@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: syslog.conf syntax change (multiple program/host specifications) In-Reply-To: <200302120632.36583.wes@softweyr.com> References: <20030210114930.GB90800@melusine.cuivre.fr.eu.org> <200302112310.h1BNAUBS019097@khavrinen.lcs.mit.edu> <200302120632.36583.wes@softweyr.com> Sender: owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG < said: > I'd much prefer to develop a simple yacc-able grammar and > develope the configuration parser that way, or use a key=value > configuration, so human beings can understand the configuration > with a program to help them. I don't think either of these is truly a useful answer, particularly for something like syslog which is already straining for a more expressive syntax. There are just too many little languages in the system already, each one subtly different in syntax, such that it's nearly impossible to do anything programmatic with them that isn't built in to the program that they configure. I'd prefer S-expressions, myself, but in terms of general accessibility and availability of automated processing tools, XML wins over Lisp. (However much I dislike XML, I find myself writing more and more of it as time goes by, and I've spent a good deal of my time becoming familiar with its restrictions. Some of the languages built on top of XML, like XSLT, are much worse [says the man who will some day release his XSLT package for doing Web photo galleries].) -GAWollman To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-arch" in the body of the message