[PLUG] relevancy of config files (WAS Sharing an Internet Connection)

["Brent Saner" <brent.saner@gmail.com>]

config files as opposed to what?
i like the fact that i can back up an entire system-wide configuration by just copying a bunch of plaintext files. no proprietary binaries to worry about, nothing possibly getting "broken" and leaving your system unconfigurable...

what would you prefer? a GUI? a program that wrote the config files automagically via a user-interaction CLI utility, maybe?
the problem is while these are totally do-able for a server or desktop and definitely a direction the GNU/Linux community is headed, it simply cannot be done in the case of OpenWRT. you need to remember you're flashing this to an off-the-shelf ROUTER. we're talking specs lower than a 386, on average. X-WRT is a very simple web gui and yet it alone sucks up a huuuuge chunk of space on the image compared to the actual system itself.

honestly, config files is IMO one of the easiest things about GNU/Linux (as long as they're well-documented, which tends to all depend on the distro).

On Jan 8, 2008 7:38 PM, Matthew Rosewarne < mrosewarne@inoutbox.com> wrote:

On Tuesday 08 January 2008, Alex Launi wrote:

> We're not all dumb. Many of us just aren't smug enough to use Debian.

For clarity's sake, it's not that being smug makes one use Debian, but rather
that using Debian tends to make one smug about it. :>

Regardless, I'd very much like to see this notion of config files being an
effective way to manage configuration go the way of the serial port.

-- 
Brent Saner
215.264.0112(cell)
215.362.7696(residence)

http://www.thenotebookarmy.org

Bill Gates is to hacking as Sid Vicious was to the Sex Pistols: no talent, everyone hates him, and he's just in it for the fame and money.
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug