Re: X Configuration Interface for Debian
On Sun, 10 Nov 1996, John Goerzen wrote:
>
> > 2. Support .so-loading for extra configuration modules. This way,
> > packages can provide their own control panels (for example, a apache
> > control panel).
>
> With Tcl/Tk, I could very easily support additional modules written, at least
> partially, in Tcl/Tk. The interface would need to be written in Tcl/Tk, but
> the rest could be in C or whatever.
Well... the main problem would be lack of ability for a standardized user
interface (and memory wastage). Also, if we used .so files, and libdl, we
could also use libelf and have an icon in there as an elf object called
something like '.icon'. This could be really neat.
I haven't really programmed in Tcl/Tk at all, so I don't know how modular
one can program in it (can you program a shared lib in it at all?).
However, if only the UI itself was in Tk (and the UI is self-contained in
the main program), each 'module' could be a separate C-only coded .so file
(which is a lot cleaner).
> Here's what I need from the Debian community to make this work:
> * Somebody to do the package management stuff. At least write C or Tcl
> procedures to get list of packages, installed packages, etc. (like dconfig
> does). I can take care of the user interface. I don't know a lot about
> the internals of the package system.
I think what really might be useful soon is a 'libdebpkg'. Anyone?
> * Somebody to do parsing of some various configuration files...eg:
> INN configs, XF86Config, crontab (I already have that, but it's a good
> example), mail (not necessarily sendmail.cf but its "macro" source),
> etc.
I can do this fairly easily (I would use bison, and flex).
> * Perhaps somebody to write code to write the changed configuration
> files back out. This shouldn't be very difficult, so I can probably do it.
> * Get it included with Debian when finished
> * Bug catchers :-)
> * Provide mailing list(s) via Majordomo, if necessary
A good idea. If you do create any, please add me. However, we would have
to be careful that we CC'd appropriate messages to debian-devel. Maybe a
mailing list for distributing latest code to developers.
> Also there needs to be some way to control what software is loaded at boot, etc. But there seems no uniform configuration file for doing this -- just an inittab and a bunch of scripts.
This really NEEDS standardizing. Adding this into 'debmake' or something
in the template would not be a bad idea.
--
Tom Lees <tom@lpsg.demon.co.uk>
--
TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS MAILING LIST: e-mail the word "unsubscribe" to
debian-devel-REQUEST@lists.debian.org . Trouble? e-mail to Bruce@Pixar.com
Reply to: