[asterisk-users] Using XML for configuration management, single-source-of-truth, etc.

[Philip Prindeville]

Tzafrir Cohen wrote:
>> [snip]
>> 3 of the handset manufacturers that I use, 1 of the firewalls, and 2 of 
>> the video-conference engines all use XML.  And the list gets longer 
>> every day.
>>     
>
> Most of the programs I have don't use XML. And I only feel better.
>
>   
>> Eventually, they will start to converge on common schemas as well...
>>     
>
> Asterisk's configuration is mostly hand-written. And also a lot larger
> than those of small devices on the network.
>   

You think that an Asterisk configuration is a lot larger than a Cisco 
5850 Access Server or a 7216 core router?


> jabberd uses an XML for configuration, and I just can't make sense of
> it. Unnecessar-ly huge indentations, sections have to be explicitly
> ended, etc.
>
> Try to implement '#include' and '#exec' in a sane way with XML.
> You can't just include one valid XML in another. You have to make a
> partial XML. And apitting it out is usually way more complicated.
>
> Furthermore, there is the issue of partial processing: do you opt for
> one big XML file? Or continue with one XML file per .conf file?
>   

I'm fine with individual files per functionality.  Makes it easier to 
add new functionality and keep config files forward compatible, or for 
that matter, to turn off or mutate individual bits of functionality by 
deleting or swapping out the individual configs.

> That said, I still wonder how to do the equivalent of apache's
> 'configtest' with Asterisk.
>
>   

Good point.

-Philip