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

[John Doty <jpd@xxxxxxxxx>]

This is an excellent idea.

On Jan 16, 2009, at 3:44 PM, Peter TB Brett wrote:

>
> 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.

Another advantage is that tools in *any* language would be able to  
parse the reduced syntax without needing to embed a Scheme interpreter.

John Doty              Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd.
http://www.noqsi.com/
jpd@xxxxxxxxx




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