Kolab templates (Was: Re: [Kolab-devel] Kolab-CF and Template file handling)

[Martin Konold]

Am Friday 23 January 2004 11:15 pm schrieb Thomas Lotterer:

Hi Thomas,

I very much agree with your points about security in your other mail.

> Kolab currently throws away the default configuration that comes with
> the OpenPKG packages.

In order to keep Kolab working across updates of OpenPKG packages we don't 
wanted to be exposed potentialy unexpectedside effects of decisions made by 
the OpenPKG packagers.

> The concept is to deliver own templates, merging 
> in user customizations then deploy the final configuration to the proper
> destination.

Yes.

> The templates I've seen, as far as they can be still identified, come
> from ancient versions of OpenPKG v1.1 or v1.2.

Yes.

> Since then, OpenPKG 
> updated many open source applications and with them the default config.
> Kolab keeping it's own templates continously runs the risk of getting
> out of sync here.

From a scientific point of view any merging algorithm is doomed to fail sooner 
or later due to the fact that the maintainer of the OpenPKG package cannot be 
expected to always anticipate all requirements of Kolab.

> this behaviour. The best I can think of is that the Kolab install no
> longer comes with rigid templates but takes the OpenPKG defaults and
> applies transformations to them.

Sofar I am not convinced.

> The metatemplates Stephan is thinking of are just another
> transformation.

Well, Stephans metatemplates take a lot of hardcoded stuff out and turn it 
into a more flexible and more transparent solution. In addition the 
information is now stored close to the actual data (config file) and not in 
the transformation code.

> So would be some sort of a INCLUDE to gather 
> configuration data from various sources.

This is the approach of SUSE with their apache config. This is not bad but 
lacks for power users.

Regards,
-- martin

Dipl.-Phys. Martin Konold
e r f r a k o n
Erlewein, Frank, Konold & Partner - Beratende Ingenieure und Physiker
Nobelstrasse 15, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
fon: 0711 67400963, fax: 0711 67400959
email: martin.konold at erfrakon.de