From owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jan 11 07:56:59 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: hackers@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9531416A4D4 for ; Thu, 11 Jan 2007 07:56:59 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from SRS0+IRu3+24+datalinktech.com.au=davidn@internode.on.net) Received: from mail.internode.on.net (bld-mail02.adl2.internode.on.net [203.16.214.66]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EE5A913C442 for ; Thu, 11 Jan 2007 07:56:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from SRS0+IRu3+24+datalinktech.com.au=davidn@internode.on.net) Received: from [192.168.227.24] (unverified [59.167.64.5]) by mail.internode.on.net (SurgeMail 3.8f2) with ESMTP id 262091601-1869586 for multiple; Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:11:33 +1030 (CDT) Message-ID: <45A5EA3B.9020000@datalinktech.com.au> Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:41:47 +1100 From: David Nugent User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 (X11/20070104) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Freddie Cash References: <60737.24.71.119.183.1168496463.squirrel@webmail.sd73.bc.ca> In-Reply-To: <60737.24.71.119.183.1168496463.squirrel@webmail.sd73.bc.ca> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Re: LDAP integration X-BeenThere: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Technical Discussions relating to FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2007 07:56:59 -0000 Freddie Cash wrote: > To each their own, of course. Personally, I am so sick of the way > system like Debian use dozens of config files for each app, all in > their own conf.d/ sub-directories. Some apps, like PureFTPd actually > use separate config files for each and every option it supports. > Trying to configure these apps is a royal pain of opening and editing > a dozen files. Maybe this makes it easier for automated configuration > tools and GUIs, but it makes it a *ROYAL* pain in the arse for mere > mortals using text editors to manage. > But management of config data is a user interface, surely, and not directly related to the underlying storage mechanism. What is the logical difference between using a directory structure vs. an LDAP server containing essentially the same information (plus all of the overhead)? "dozens of config files" just equates to dozens of ldap entries (or dozens of entries in a single config file). Given the same or equivalent "friendly" UI, do you really care how the back end is managed? By moving the data to a directory you are making it less accessible to standard tools, so you're just removing the option to directly edit those config files and only gain on being able to use ldap editing tools instead of text editing tools. You could write a similarly "friendly" app that managed your conrfiguration files, and you won't need any LDAP expertise to use it. Network access and management of configuration data are the real advantages here, not the UI. Integration of LDAP would provide close to (and arguably less than) zero benefit to a stand alone system, really, and would effectively equate to a Windows registry with all of the pros and cons that come with that. Regards -d