Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 00:06:39 -0500 (EST) From: Chris BeHanna <behanna@zbzoom.net> To: FreeBSD-Stable <stable@freebsd.org> Subject: Handholding Editor for rc.conf Message-ID: <20020204235829.D77182-100000@topperwein.dyndns.org>
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> [...flamage re "registry editor" for FreeBSD snipped...]
A syntax-aware editor (e.g., vim) will tell you right away when
you have mismatched quotes (be they single or double). It won't
prevent you from shooting yourself in the foot by writing the file
anyway, but it will at least give you some warning.
It might be neat to have a heirarchy for rc variables, but "neat"
should be tempered by "does it buy us sufficient functionality to
be worth the effort invested and the complexity introduced"? Terry's
point about doing syntax-checking on rc.conf before the editor lets
you exit (a lá vipw or visudo) for administering a remote box is,
however, well-taken. The beauty is that a smart enough editor to do
that is also smart enough to syntax-check rc.firewall, saving an admin
numerous "call the NOC and talk them through fixing the problem"
headaches.
I should think that it should be a SMOP to add some macros to vim
to do this, given that vim is already sh-syntax aware, and rc.conf
and rc.firewall are merely shell scripts. That said, vim isn't part
of the base system. I think that a vim add-on in ports/sysutils to do
this would satisfy nearly all but the heathen emacs users. :-)
I'm not a committer (I'm "just" my company's RE), so feel free to
file this to /dev/null.
--
Chris BeHanna
Software Engineer (Remove "bogus" before responding.)
behanna@bogus.zbzoom.net
I was raised by a pack of wild corn dogs.
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