Config4GNU status update

Config4GNU, a project to provide a single unified interface to system configuration data on Linux computer systems, is currently analyzing existing configuration file formats in order to best design a data model that can represent all of the various types of configuration. Work is currently focused on creating a systems requirements specification document and a document analyzing the various configuration file formats found on Linux.

Two weeks ago an article outlining the project vision of Config4GNU was published on http://freshmeat.net, and has received quite a bit of feedback. The article can be viewed at http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/565/. The feedback was mostly positive. The few negative comments either stated that the project was redundant or unnecessary, or came from a misunderstanding of what the project was about. We try to address some of the misunderstandings using the Freshmeat comment system. We will add some of the more frequently misunderstood aspects to the FAQ section of the website (http://config4gnu.sourceforge.net).

A mailing list has been created for Config4GNU development. Please subscribe at http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/config4gnu-developer if you are interested in actively participating in Config4GNU development.

Config4GNU has also recently become aware of another project that has just started and has similar goals. The project is called libconf, and information about it can be found at http://www2.damz.net/theme1/libconf.html. One of the major goals we have is not to unnecessarily duplicate effort, and this is one area where we may be able to benefit each other's projects.