[arch-releng] About AIF and Arch Linux

[Jeremiah Dodds]

Dieter Plaetinck <dieter at plaetinck.be> writes:

> On Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:40:55 +0200
> Alexander Rødseth <rodseth at gmail.com> wrote:
>> However, I also wonder, if you were to write AIF from scratch, how
>> would you do it?
>
> if i would rewrite it, i'ld do it in python. bash has many limitations which i
> needed to work around (specifically wrt modules that need to override/inherit
> stuff, datastructures to describe complicated filesystem arrangements (json,
> yaml?) and other datastructures to pass data around (lists, dictionaries) would
> be useful)
> that said, you often just want to execute commands directly.  for that, it's hard to beat bash.

While in general I wouldn't prefer it over python, I think ruby hits a
fairly sweet spot here.

>> And, would it make sense to have "machine configuration packages" that
>> could be search and installed by users, so that setting up an Arch box
>> as say, a media server, would be as easy as "aif -S mediaserver"?
>
> a package is not the right thing to use. it's not easy to quickly customize, and you're bound by the limits of what a package can do.
> a config file for an installer (like aif) is more appropriate.

Strong +1 . I think there could be something to be said for
purpose-tailored 'sets of software and configs' that
encompass more than one peice of software, but packages aren't the right
abstraction. 

-- 
Jeremiah Dodds

github: https://github.com/jdodds
irc   : exhortatory