Is "educate your boss" no longer an option these days?
What if someone edits the sqlite file via sqlite rather than the config file?
Think of the sqlite database as a "deployed" configuration, not the configuration that you work with. Put together some process documentation for deployment procedures, you'll need it anyway.
What if sqlite3 goes out of business? How will we edit the config files? Where can we purchase sqlite3 support?
sqlite is public domain. And if the support issue can kill your proposal, you should be worrying about where to get mongrel2 support, in case Zed falls off a bike.
So now we can't even invoke the server, we need to invoke some complicated shell script? Sounds like a maintenance nightmare.
Congratulations, you've just introduced a fraction of the complexity in apachectl. Have a cookie.
Mongrel2 makes me feel fear, uncertainty and doubt! These are negative feelings!
I don't know about your manager, but mine would definitely cringe with fear, uncertainty, and doubt upon seeing some scary temporary hexadecimal filename.
Oh, and since we're bikeshedding, might as well point out that Step 3 has a useless use of cat. Grumble, grumble.
The more education your boss needs about a new technology, the less likely he is to allow it's use.
Think of the sqlite database as a "deployed" configuration, not the configuration that you work with. Put together some process documentation for deployment procedures, you'll need it anyway.
(I added a disclaimer to the post clarifying that I'm not endorsing any of these objections.)
As for a scary hexadecimal filename, that's an implementation detail. The raw text sqlite dump is the actual configuration, the /tmp/whatever.sqlite file is deleted when mongrel2 exits. No user need know it exists.
The canonical version of the server configuration doesn't play nice with version control, and so staff has to work with a facsimile and hope that nobody makes out-of-process changes.
You claim that this is a social problem, and I claim that the solution to the social problem is to have a well-defined process.
Even if the canonical configuration is under version control, that still does not prevent anyone from making out-of-process changes.
Let me clarify: the social problem is that everyone is whining about how they are forced to know that config.sqlite exists. They even need to remember this while writing their "run_my_webapp.sh" script.
I'm proposing a command line option which hides the `m2sh load -config examples/config/sample.conf` step from the user, and stores the config.sqlite file somewhere other than the working directory.
The sole goal is to make people STFU about the config format.
Part of the idea behind mongrel2 and using sqlite is that there isn't supposed to be a canon config script/format thingy. Baking m2sh into mongrel2 so you can pass it in with a flag canonizes it.
I admit that right now it does seem to be the de facto standard but that's at least partly because the m2 community is small enough that Zed is still important in it so the tools he ships are the tools people use. In the event that m2 takes over the world though an -m2sh (or similar) option is going to be criticized as obsolete bloat that no one needs because every one uses the M2ConfigDeploy.py library.
What if someone edits the sqlite file via sqlite rather than the config file?
Think of the sqlite database as a "deployed" configuration, not the configuration that you work with. Put together some process documentation for deployment procedures, you'll need it anyway.
What if sqlite3 goes out of business? How will we edit the config files? Where can we purchase sqlite3 support?
sqlite is public domain. And if the support issue can kill your proposal, you should be worrying about where to get mongrel2 support, in case Zed falls off a bike.
So now we can't even invoke the server, we need to invoke some complicated shell script? Sounds like a maintenance nightmare.
Congratulations, you've just introduced a fraction of the complexity in apachectl. Have a cookie.
Mongrel2 makes me feel fear, uncertainty and doubt! These are negative feelings!
I don't know about your manager, but mine would definitely cringe with fear, uncertainty, and doubt upon seeing some scary temporary hexadecimal filename.
Oh, and since we're bikeshedding, might as well point out that Step 3 has a useless use of cat. Grumble, grumble.