From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: Vincent Hanquez <vincent.hanquez@eu.citrix.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] Replace config file parser for "xl"
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2010 21:29:04 +0000
Message-ID: <4B8D8320.2000707@eu.citrix.com>
References: <19341.26082.271923.152094@mariner.uk.xensource.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Return-path: <xen-devel-bounces@lists.xensource.com>
In-Reply-To: <19341.26082.271923.152094@mariner.uk.xensource.com>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/mailman/listinfo/xen-devel>,
	<mailto:xen-devel-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Post: <mailto:xen-devel@lists.xensource.com>
List-Help: <mailto:xen-devel-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.xensource.com/mailman/listinfo/xen-devel>,
	<mailto:xen-devel-request@lists.xensource.com?subject=subscribe>
Sender: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xensource.com
Errors-To: xen-devel-bounces@lists.xensource.com
To: Ian Jackson <Ian.Jackson@eu.citrix.com>
Cc: "xen-devel@lists.xensource.com" <xen-devel@lists.xensource.com>
List-Id: xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org

On 02/03/10 19:24, Ian Jackson wrote:
> This provides a replacement config file parser for "xl" based on bison
> and flex.
>
> Benefits:
>    * proper error reporting with line numbers
>    * parser can understand nearly all "xm" configuration files directly
>       (doesn't understand Python code but should do everything else)
>    * parser also understands the ;-infested "xl" style files
>    * removes the dependency on libconfig
>    * better checking for certain kinds of mistakes
>    * eliminates the strange "massage file and try again" code
>
> This is intended to support all config files currently supported by
> "xl" and almost all files supported by "xm".  (NB that whether a
> feature works depends on the implementation of that feature in
> xl/libxl of course.)
>
> This patch also introduces a new library "libxlutil" which is mainly
> for the benefit of "xl".  Users of libxl do not need to use libxlutil,
> but they can do so if they want to parse "xl" files without being
> "xl".

this is merely replacing a library dependency by a compilation 
dependency, plus the burden on maintaining a ad-hoc grammar. At least it 
would probably be useful to take the same approch as the linux kernel, 
i.e. checking bison/flex output in the repository to account for bison 
annoying volatility.

however since it's well separated from libxl,

Acked-by: Vincent Hanquez <vincent.hanquez@eu.citrix.com>

-- 
Vincent