From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([69.77.167.62] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1L2s8f-0000F4-9S for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:50:57 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id AD64BE01FA; Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:50:55 +0000 (UTC) Received: from wa-out-1112.google.com (wa-out-1112.google.com [209.85.146.179]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7E37FE01FA for ; Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:50:55 +0000 (UTC) Received: by wa-out-1112.google.com with SMTP id v33so37294wah.2 for ; Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:50:53 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:date:from:to:subject :message-id:references:mime-version:content-type:content-disposition :in-reply-to:user-agent; bh=3bC7T0uIMPxBjhgu0vxIBjvapWjjVMLWUBkTAAXKk/E=; b=i0qpblprYbReqpQHQjk8/GlIFJTNvSdq8xmWQCJwcNS3DJMl4RAO8652ICfp8HbXI1 KfU8kLAl7785amTu/6iUctK//T1OWu3cPek2HzTPk7rthZWDRtlV3cSD5bAaoCiAKu8A SsrlVC8DFpex/1zpRIqUGq9D890Pi8ngPoj/U= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=date:from:to:subject:message-id:references:mime-version :content-type:content-disposition:in-reply-to:user-agent; b=lUOJ1gNxhTP9dcov1wCIrL3zJgIJFfqxiZeM3mHHPbrTRNVtKZo5OaEZgX2lkln/CV wqXruQX3gyk0O+W2L0ks6KJcUj7kR/zNkm4Pci6FphpaJVic9+2AbRon77+wrQuU5D2j dzbuUvOZbf8R0iMId5W4A4IJUlmeeMSdD0XSk= Received: by 10.114.61.18 with SMTP id j18mr826968waa.14.1227120653336; Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:50:53 -0800 (PST) Received: from localhost (w050-023.eduroam.wireless.uvic.ca [206.12.50.23]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id n22sm10280509pof.18.2008.11.19.10.50.52 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:50:52 -0800 (PST) Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:50:52 -0800 From: Ryan Tandy To: gentoo-embedded@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-embedded] Configuration of an embedded system Message-ID: <20081120105052.GC2577@tarpman.is-a-geek.org> References: <8349216a0810100607s9f70ab4tbead2eb697e7e1e3@mail.gmail.com> <20081115054727.GE21400@nibiru.local> <001d01c94a37$e4331720$ac994560$@com> Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-embedded@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-embedded@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <001d01c94a37$e4331720$ac994560$@com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.16 (2007-06-09) X-Archives-Salt: bf7765f9-4f6d-449c-ac61-a7dfef537642 X-Archives-Hash: 3844d8820b45dbf64cc732fdbd361264 On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 11:13:46AM -0000, Gareth McClean wrote: > a) Do any open source projects target the initial setup of an embedded > system i.e. basics like manually configuring an Ethernet port, configuration > of wireless networking or possibly other essentials like hostname, timezone, > etc? I either use Gentoo's baselayout or openrc, or write my own simple init script, depending on what I'm doing. I don't know of any init system projects that are targeted specifically at embedded. > b) If not, do you perform your 'out-of-the-box setup' i.e. did you create > your own set of tools using packages like awk, sed, perl etc? Again, depending on the scale of the project, I use either a stripped down Gentoo system or a simple Busybox-based system. > c) How are you communicating with the user during the installation process? Most of the systems I'm used to aren't designed to be installed by a user - at least the software side of things. > c) Are there any intentions to migrate the Linux 'system configuration' into > a machine readable format like XML. No. Do you have any idea how long it takes to read and write XML? > Ignore that that might sound like a call to implement the equivalent > of the windows registry It doesn't, although it does sound like unnecessary overhead. > and focus on the fact I am concerned about the potential issues of > processing unstructured, human readable text files Which issues? All of the base system configuration files seem fairly structured to me. At any rate I'd much rather be parsing simple text files than XML. Which files are you having trouble with? > and want an easy/reliable way to programmatically change the system > configuration and manage future system updates. Most people that I know of solve these problems with shell or perl/python/language-of-the-moment scripts. Bear in mind that these are just my opinions; other people on the list will doubtless disagree with them. :) Thanks, Ryan