RE: Need 'UncommentAndSetValue' or some such

[Mark Burgess]

> > 
> > I rarely write long lines, so I think that is probably good data. I
> > did not actually expect to see that so much of it was editfiles, but
> > it is interesting to know. This manages various parts of about 200
> > machines, maybe 10 different OSs.
> 
> Now if it could only be abstracted...
> 
> I think CFEngine implements two things -- policies and protocols.  Policies
> are the answers to "what type of system is this?"  Protocols are the answers
> to "how do I implement a policy?"  My question is has anyone given thought to
> producing generic protocols for CFEngine that could be used everywhere
> (within the assumptions of the protocol)?

When you say protocols I wonder if you mean like SNMP, i.e. network
only. Most of the work on cfengine has been about how policy is
implemented. I refer you to the long list of papers. On the website.


As a generic reply to the editfiles debate:  I have been giving this
much thought. The point, as identified by several, is that files have 
different formats. (In CS lingo, they form different
languages/grammars). That means you need editing tools that can
understand those grammars in a typed way. As of now, cfengine editfiles
was meant for Unix line based editing. But what about things like XML
which have context free grammars (parenthetic structures). That requires
a diffent model.

At LISA, Aeleen Frisch and I will be presenting our proposal for
cfengine 3 syntax and data model which will allow cfengine 3 to
accomodate all these issues. If you want to read up in advance, go to
the svn server and choose project "cfengine 3". There's a pdf in the svn
repos with a fifty page theoretical discussion about all this.

M