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From: Zach Forrest <diatribe@shaw.ca>
To: gentoo-dev@gentoo.org
Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] USE database?
Date: Thu, 06 Dec 2001 14:33:21 -0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <3C0FF231.3020308@shaw.ca> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 1007671131.3031.8.camel@zoidberg

 >
 > The problem is that writing things in XML will be even harder than the
 > pretty clean syntax you proposed.
 >

Maybe a little more laborious, but not really that hard. Take this for 
example:

use_var={"name":"esd",
          "description":"Enable enlightenment sound daemon support.",
          "priority":"OPTIONAL",
          "depends":"media-sound/esound"}

To write this in XML it would look like this:

<usedatabase>

   <useflag name=esd>
     <description>Enable enlightenment sound daemon support</description>
     <priority>OPTIONAL</priority>
     <depends>media-sound/esound</depends>
   </useflag>

</usedatabase>

(OK, not quite as _pretty_, but I've seen worse. The syntax, though, is 
clean.)

Also, I don't think it would be too painful because it's not like 
someone would have to spend all day editing/adding entries. It would be 
pretty easy to write a script to prompt for the name/desc/etc. and 
generate the  XML.

Benefits of using XML also include:
- Rules, such as declaring "priority" flags, can be created in and 
enforced by a schema.
- Validation in general.
- Consistent formatting would also be easy with XML.
- Flexibility.

(Not to sound like a commercial.)



Mikael Hallendal wrote:

> tor 2001-12-06 klockan 19.12 skrev Zach Forrest:
> 
>>Before using python as an example, I had actually played with the idea 
>>of using XML. Any thoughts on this? I know that compared to a plain text 
>>file both of these notions seem somewhat cumbersome, but there are a 
>>couple of arguments for using a more structured approach. One, 
>>programatically handling the data is easier. Using either python or XML 
>>(and a parser) allows named access rather positional access to the 
>>fields. It also makes the definition of "records" more clear and easier 
>>to understand for new developers (i.e. me). It wouldn't be too difficult 
>>to parse XML (even into a dictionary).
>>
> 
> Yes, I thought about using XML too, as you say, for parsing the file
> it'll be better since we don't narrow it down to python. Any language
> that can parse XML (most) can be used for tools and such. 
> 
> The problem is that writing things in XML will be even harder than the
> pretty clean syntax you proposed.

> 
>>As far as GConf is concerned, I think that the base system should have 
>>as few dependencies as possible. Python is already required, and, in my 
>>opinion, with its XML capabilities (or just using dictionaries) I 
>>believe a solution along these lines would be preferable.
>>
> 
> Yes, GConf is IMHO not an option today, perhaps in the future when it:
> 1) is more stable/tested for these kind of things.
> 2) has nice tools for editing the contents.
> 
> Regards,
>   Mikael Hallendal
>  
> 




  reply	other threads:[~2001-12-06 22:30 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 26+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2001-12-03  1:06 [gentoo-dev] USE database? Zach Forrest
2001-12-03  7:41 ` AW: " Sebastian Werner
2001-12-03  9:13   ` Geert Bevin
2001-12-03 10:02     ` AW: " Sebastian Werner
2001-12-03 10:12       ` Geert Bevin
2001-12-03 11:05         ` AW: " Sebastian Werner
2001-12-03 11:05           ` Geert Bevin
2001-12-03 11:26             ` AW: " Sebastian Werner
2001-12-03 11:32   ` [gentoo-dev] New ideas, USE database, sandbox & more Vitaly Kushneriuk
2001-12-03 11:48     ` Geert Bevin
2001-12-03 12:55       ` Vitaly Kushneriuk
2001-12-03 14:01     ` Joshua Pierre
2001-12-03 16:06       ` Vitaly Kushneriuk
2001-12-03 16:28       ` Daniel Robbins
2001-12-03 18:00         ` Vitaly Kushneriuk
2001-12-03 16:48 ` [gentoo-dev] USE database? Daniel Robbins
2001-12-06  6:01   ` Mikael Hallendal
2001-12-06 18:12     ` Zach Forrest
2001-12-06 20:38       ` Mikael Hallendal
2001-12-06 22:33         ` Zach Forrest [this message]
2001-12-06 23:40           ` Daniel Robbins
2001-12-06 23:52             ` Zach Forrest
2001-12-07 19:28           ` Sebastian Werner
2001-12-07 21:39             ` Daniel Robbins
2001-12-07 21:43               ` Geert Bevin
2001-12-08  1:44               ` Mikael Hallendal

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