From: Giovanni Biscuolo <g@xelera.eu>
To: Konrad Hinsen <konrad.hinsen@fastmail.net>, guix-devel@gnu.org
Subject: A better XML, config is code (was Re: Profiles/manifests-related command line...)
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2019 16:56:59 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <87lfsmpfsk.fsf@roquette.mug.biscuolo.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <m18sooyswk.fsf@ordinateur-de-catherine--konrad.home>
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Hello Konrad,
this thread is slowly going OT from the initial subject, anyway I found
an interesting comment from you I would like to reply
Konrad Hinsen <konrad.hinsen@fastmail.net> writes:
> Hi Ludo,
[...]
>> Just to say I’m not willing to replace ‘config.scm’ with
>> ‘config.yaml’, if that’s what you had in mind. :-)
>
> YAML is for kids. Real managers won't settle for less than full
> XML. ;-)
When I started studying Guix/Scheme (and I'm still far away from
understanding) I stubled on an article advocating Lisp to XML-minded
people like I was: http:/www.defmacro.org/ramblings/lisp.html
The point is: config.scm is better than config.xml that is better than
config.yaml that is better than config.json :-D
The real question is: a configure file is code or data? IMHO is code,
especially when it comes to system configuration; for this reason every
user learn to *code* in some way or another (even when using a GUI to
configure software)
Systems are complex, we should avoid complicating them (think any
configuration management system you like :-O ) *and* we should also
avoid oversimplifying them [1]; this also means users must know what they
are doing
[...]
> The question is if we want Guix to remain exclusively a power tool for
> power users.
Mumble... but every user *is* a power user when installing and
configuring a system, no? The "only" difference is what tools *and*
binary distribution (or binary building) system we decide to trust when
installing and configuring our system, and our decision should be
informed
...so yes, if it's not a channel under your control - or of someone you
decide to trust - you should better not use it (and do not copy/paste
configuration files you do not understand)
I recently read this "Curl to shell isn't so bad" article (thanks ARota)
https://arp242.net/curl-to-sh.html
«In the end it’s still just running code you didn’t personally audit on
your computer, and a matter of trust.»
Guix is the best candidate to build a software ecosystem which we can
trust (and we already have), starting from "almost zero" binary depends
via GNU Mes and stage0; and we can always /challenge/ any substitute
server :-)
This obviously does not solve the "trust in source code" problem [2],
but this is another story
[...]
Thanks! Gio'
[1] Docker "containers" are easier from an "end user" POV than
installing and configuring via a "classic" package manager... but have
you ever tried to understand what's installed in a 7 layer filesystems
container?!? So what is *seems* simple is often _complicated_ :-O
[2] and that was also *not* the scope of the famous Trusting Trust speech
--
Giovanni Biscuolo
Xelera IT Infrastructures
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next prev parent reply other threads:[~2019-11-11 15:57 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 73+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2019-10-23 16:37 Profiles/manifests-related command line interface enhancements Pierre Neidhardt
2019-10-24 9:00 ` Mark H Weaver
2019-10-24 9:32 ` Pierre Neidhardt
2019-10-24 16:28 ` Pierre Neidhardt
2019-10-24 16:42 ` Danny Milosavljevic
2019-10-24 18:16 ` Pierre Neidhardt
2019-10-24 19:23 ` Mark H Weaver
2019-10-24 20:04 ` Pierre Neidhardt
2019-10-24 21:35 ` Mark H Weaver
2019-10-25 9:29 ` Pierre Neidhardt
2019-10-31 11:38 ` Pierre Neidhardt
2019-11-03 14:18 ` Ludovic Courtès
2019-11-04 10:39 ` Pierre Neidhardt
2019-11-04 11:06 ` zimoun
2019-11-05 6:26 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-05 8:35 ` Hartmut Goebel
2019-11-05 9:03 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-05 9:09 ` Hartmut Goebel
2019-11-05 9:22 ` Pierre Neidhardt
2019-11-05 15:36 ` zimoun
2019-11-05 16:05 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-06 12:09 ` zimoun
2019-11-07 13:07 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-06 17:07 ` Ludovic Courtès
2019-11-06 22:21 ` Bengt Richter
2019-11-07 13:52 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-06 16:35 ` Ludovic Courtès
2019-11-07 7:46 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-07 9:04 ` Pierre Neidhardt
2019-11-07 11:14 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-07 11:36 ` Pierre Neidhardt
2019-11-09 17:59 ` Ludovic Courtès
2019-11-10 9:36 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-11 15:56 ` Giovanni Biscuolo [this message]
2019-11-13 15:28 ` A better XML, config is code (was Re: Profiles/manifests-related command line...) Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-12 8:55 ` Profiles/manifests-related command line interface enhancements Andy Wingo
2019-11-12 20:07 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-13 20:58 ` Bengt Richter
2019-11-16 22:02 ` Ludovic Courtès
2019-11-17 10:44 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-18 14:25 ` zimoun
2019-11-19 10:24 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-23 17:10 ` Ludovic Courtès
2019-11-25 11:06 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-26 9:51 ` On DSLs Ludovic Courtès
2019-12-02 19:05 ` zimoun
2019-12-02 19:11 ` Julien Lepiller
2019-12-03 10:19 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-12-03 14:12 ` Ricardo Wurmus
2019-12-03 15:46 ` zimoun
2019-12-04 6:33 ` Bengt Richter
2019-12-10 16:26 ` Ludovic Courtès
2019-12-08 8:48 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-12-03 10:26 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-12-03 12:00 ` zimoun
2019-11-11 14:13 ` Profiles/manifests-related command line interface enhancements Hartmut Goebel
2019-11-16 22:27 ` Ludovic Courtès
2019-11-17 11:30 ` Konrad Hinsen
2019-11-18 14:40 ` zimoun
2019-12-22 19:40 ` Andreas Enge
2019-12-22 20:39 ` Pjotr Prins
2019-11-18 14:15 ` zimoun
2019-11-26 9:36 ` Ludovic Courtès
2019-11-06 16:42 ` Ludovic Courtès
2019-11-07 12:57 ` zimoun
2019-11-17 10:35 ` Package inputs in manifests Ludovic Courtès
2019-11-17 23:11 ` Bengt Richter
2019-11-18 17:14 ` zimoun
2019-11-23 14:05 ` Ludovic Courtès
2019-11-24 5:49 ` Bengt Richter
2019-11-24 7:17 ` Timothy Sample
2019-11-25 3:42 ` Bengt Richter
2019-11-18 16:18 ` zimoun
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