Re: config file formats

[David Holland <dholland-tech%netbsd.org@localhost>]

On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 12:39:04PM -0400, Mouse wrote:
 > > Would anyone object to adopting a convention in which if the first
 > > line of a config file begins with "#@" it identifies the format?
 > 
 > I'm not sure whether I think this is a good idea or not - I find myself
 > liking and disliking it both at the same time.

Someone just emailed me privately to point out that #@ looks too much
like @(#), which is a good point... perhaps #& or #%, although I don't
like the way #& looks and #% is giving me vague bad vibes, like maybe
it means something to Windows.

 > But, stipualating for purposes of discussion that it is a good idea....
 > 
 > > Maybe the number should be the netbsd version, and/or maybe it should
 > > have "netbsd" in it.
 > 
 > Since some of the potentially-affected programs are shared with other
 > systems, I'd say using the NetBSD version would be a bad idea, at least
 > for those programs.

I guess it depends on the program; for something like syslogd that's
everywhere, to introduce a new format and call it "version 2" or
something without a "netbsd" in it would either likely lead to
eventual confusion or require a prohibitive amount of politicking up
front.

Probably the convention should just state that there's a format name
and version and leave the details unspecified.

-- 
David A. Holland
dholland%netbsd.org@localhost