Re: [Config4gnu-developer] Re: a new approach to "parsers"

[Jason L. <jl...@me...>]

>>> Justin Yackoski <ju...@sk...> 11/07/02 17:26 PM >>>
>You mean that the parser would include in the outputted XML a node which
>the middle layer checks for and if present, calls the parser again for
>each external file?  That would work, or maybe you meant something else?

That's what I meant.

>>  - parsers can't run external commands to implement changes
>
>Unless they output a shell script to accomplish the changes, and the
>middle layer can detect this and run the script?

That's an interesting idea. Some way of differentiating between types of
parsers would be in order. It may be easier to just specify that certain
parsers need to perform complex operations and therefore they will
read/write the actual configuration file themselves.

Which makes me think of how remote administration is going to happen. I
think of two alternatives now; I'm sure there are others:

1. Config4GNU is installed on one computer, the computer that manages
configuration for all other computers. It is configured to use remote shell
or (preferably) secure shell to read/write remote configuration files and
run commands on these remote computers.

    Pros:
     - only one system has to meet Config4GNU dependencies
     - ssh/rsh are pretty universally available for all sorts of unixes
     - simple to upgrade Config4GNU

2. A Config4GNU daemon is installed on all computers that can be configured,
and the client talks to the daemon on the computer that you want to
configure.

    Pros:
     - configuration is not dependent on a certain host being up
     - Config4GNU installation is limited to files/parsers applicable to a
particular distribution of Linux/Unix

My $0.02

Jason Long