Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 03:23:41 -0500 From: "Matthew D. Fuller" <fullermd@futuresouth.com> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> Cc: Peter van Heusden <pvh@leftside.wcape.school.za>, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Adding a new user interface to FreeBSD administration Message-ID: <19980624032341.11634@futuresouth.com> In-Reply-To: <8919.898663724@time.cdrom.com>; from Jordan K. Hubbard on Tue, Jun 23, 1998 at 09:48:44PM -0700 References: <19980623194829.05384@futuresouth.com> <8919.898663724@time.cdrom.com>
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On Tue, Jun 23, 1998 at 09:48:44PM -0700, Jordan K. Hubbard woke me up to tell me:
> > So, the first step is to write scripts/programs to create/edit the
> > various config files: pppconfig, maybe some nice wrappers around pw,
> > syslogconf, even a profileconf and cshconf, heck, let's complicate things
> > more and make a rc.confconf. Just find every config file that people
>
> Eeek. I think this might have been a transitional approach of value
> some 4-5 years ago, but nowadays we have namespace pollution and the
> fact that front-ending things in this fashion is something which
> proved its limitations and went out of fashion almost a decade ago.
> If we're going to do something now, let's stick with 90's techniques
> at least. :-)
Well, if namespace pollution is the problem, then write the scripts as an
addon package, and when we integrate them, just put them together into
one big program:
# sysconfig -t {ppp|uucp|network|syslog|etc} --other_options
I like the 3 layer approach, because it caters to 3 groups of people:
1) config file: know what you're doing, just want to do it
2) script: know what you're doing, don't know the format
3) cutesy: don't [yet] know what you're doing.
The hope is thus that you still have files to edit directly if you like
doing things that way (me! me!), you have a nice frontend if you're not
sure what you're doing, and you have a script in the middle. It's easy
to tell someone a command line to a script to solve a problem; it's a lot
harder to guide them through a GUI or to tell them what to edit in the
config file.
This approach has just been waiting for a quiet, rainy night. Are you
saying you wouldn't use it if I wrote it? ;)
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| FreeBSD; the way computers were meant to be |
* "The only reason I'm burning my candle at both ends, is *
| that I haven't figured out how to light the middle yet."|
* fullermd@futuresouth.com :-} MAtthew Fuller *
| http://keystone.westminster.edu/~fullermd |
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