gEDA-user: [RFC 1/6] Non-Turing-complete configuration files.

[Peter TB Brett <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Currently, the gEDA configuration files are executed by a Scheme
interpreter. This has a number of flaws:

1. An error in a configuration file will cause it not to be fully
   interpreted. This can potentially leave gEDA applications in an
   unusable state or even cause it not to start at all. Furthermore,
   this can be confusing to a new user, who might not be familiar with
   Scheme or the quirks of gEDA configuration and thus more at risk of
   making mistakes configuring gEDA.

2. Per-project configuration files may legitimately be required. For
   instance, they may be used to customize libraries of symbols or
   hierarchical schematics. However, they currently pose a security risk
   in that downloading and opening a set of schematics from the Internet
   can easily result in arbitrary code being executed.

My proposal is to use a Scheme-like syntax for the configuration files,
but to parse rather than execute them. Naturally, it would be necessary
to design the system carefully to ensure that all configuration
parameters can be specified in the reduced syntax.

                                     Peter

-- 
Peter Brett

Electronic Systems Engineer
Integral Informatics Ltd


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