[DebMetrics] Looking for feedback on manifest format

[Joseph Bisch <joseph.bisch@gmail.com>]

Hello,

I am a student participating in Google Summer of Code. For GSoC, I am
working on Debian Metrics Portal that will provide a uniform interface
for adding, updating, and viewing metrics related to Debian. The data
will be pushed or pulled from a variety of sources, but during GSoC
only a select few sources will be implemented.

I am seeking feedback on a manifest file format. This file will be
used to define data sources. Below is the current iteration of the
format:

[script1]
type = pull|push
kind = static|transient
deps = dep1, dep2, dep3, ... # optional; can be used to define dependencies
freq = min hour dom month dow year # crontab format
url = http://www.example.com/script # for push metrics; don't include for pull
tablename = Name
fields = field1, field2, field3, ... # ts is field, but isn't defined by client
types = Integer, Integer, Integer, ... # correspond to the fields in fields
format = json|xml|fixed_width|tab|csv

[script2]
type = pull|push
...
...
...

The metrics portal will be able to handle both remote push metrics
that will call a remote script and pull metrics where a script will
run locally on the metrics portal server. Some data is historical (not
changing) whereas some is changing. That is the reason for kind. Types
matches SQLAlchemy types. Format specifies the output format of the
script.

If you want to follow my coding check out the git repo[0]. Progress
will be updated on the soc-coordination mailing list and my blog[1]
which is syndicated on planet.d.o.

[0] http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=users/josephbisch-guest/debmetrics.git;a=summary
[1] http://www.josephbisch.com/

Joseph