New repository configuration ponderings

Dag Wieers dag at wieers.com
Tue May 30 02:48:45 PDT 2006


On Tue, 30 May 2006, Ralf Corsepius wrote:

> There isn't any tool to provide this feature for current apt's
> configuration. So, all you are trying here, is to fight xml by raising
> additional demands.

Ralf, there is a big difference between the XML snippet you showed and the 
apt.conf snippet. It's called readability. It may not be that noticable 
from 1 single line, but if the complete config-file is a list of

	<whateveroption1>this is some value</whateveroption1>
	<somethingelse>another value</sometingelse>
	<lotsmore>value1 value2</lotsmore>

And this with some more nesting.

I know lots of people would have a problem with the above. But the 
difference is, for this you *need* color highlighting or you go insane 
(well, maybe not you, but the majority does).

While the apt.conf format used right now (while certainly not the most 
simple) is much easier to parse yourself and check for correctness. And it 
makes a big difference if you have to rely on a tool to check for 
correctness.

Kind regards,
--   dag wieers,  dag at wieers.com,  http://dag.wieers.com/   --
[all I want is a warm bed and a kind word and unlimited power]



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