[OpenAFS-devel] Re: [OpenAFS] Selecting a configuration file format for OpenAFS Services

Felix Frank Felix.Frank@Desy.de
Mon, 18 May 2009 09:16:48 +0200


> The purpose of this discussion is not to debate the merits of
> configuration files vs command-line arguments or per-server vs
> centralized configuration.

I have seen no arguments in this thread that justify a preference of 
either command-line argument wrapping or a centralized configuration 
service.

> The purpose of this discussion is to determine if there is a
> preferred general purpose configuration file format that we
> will adopt going forward instead of creating an individual
> configuration file for each new type of data that the server
> requires.

I definitely agree that a central config file would be useful. 
Configuring processes using bos is less than convenient.

Kerberos/INI file formats should be quite adequate. Note that the latter 
is not only used by a wide range of Windows applications, but by some 
UNIX projects as well. Still, the technical benefits of Kerberos configs 
as pointed out by you earlier in this thread are intriguing. And I 
disbelieve that they are hard for any administrator (Windows or no) to 
comprehend.

Regards
  - Felix