The Most Ugly Configuration File

Message

fourhead · Post by **fourhead** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 8:51 am

One of the very, very, very few things I don't like in Linux (or actually it's GNU) is the fact that there's not really a comon 'syntax' for config files. Every packages has more or less it's own thing. For me, the worst, ugliest, most unlogical and $&%§§$% configuration file is /etc/X11/XF86Config. I've never seen anything bad as this! What do you think?

Spawn of Lovechild · Post by **Spawn of Lovechild** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 9:04 am

Try installing sendmail, the default configuration file is just ugly.

Kezza · Post by **Kezza** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 10:08 am

Spawn of Lovechild wrote:Try installing sendmail, the default configuration file is just ugly.

I agree! I'm sure it was the sendmail config file the inspired the brainfuck programming language.

georwell · Post by **georwell** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 10:59 am

At least sendmail.mc is understandable. sendmail.cf is a giant spike being driven through your eye! That said, I love sendmail and am not replacing it anytime soon. (I have spent too much time on the beast to chuck it!

)

Nermal · Post by **Nermal** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 11:10 am

Bind config files...

named.conf *shudder*

Celtis · Post by **Celtis** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 11:13 am

Kezza wrote:
Spawn of Lovechild wrote:Try installing sendmail, the default configuration file is just ugly.
I agree! I'm sure it was the sendmail config file the inspired the brainfuck programming language.

Another one for Sendmail I'm afraid... what a nightmare

charlieg · Post by **charlieg** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 11:23 am

Bah, there's nothing wrong with the XF86Config file. People are just voting for it because they probably had hassle setting up X. It's one of the nicer config files.

semiSfear · Post by **semiSfear** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 12:43 pm

I voted for XF86Config, but if glftpd.conf was an option I wold defenately pick it over XF86Config

hardcore · Post by **hardcore** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 1:22 pm

Picked XF out of all the ones I use that are listed. If I were to pick any, I would probably choose the kernel .config, mostly because of it's length. Think about it, what other config had tools (menuconfig and xconfig) made to just interface with it??

malloc · Post by **malloc** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 2:12 pm

Try to check amavisd conf file.

Does the "empty separating lines" means something

carlivar · Post by **carlivar** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 4:02 pm

I recently installed procmail, and .procmailrc is pretty dumb. Easy enough to do after reading the man page, but it annoys me when config files follow their own format and there is NOTHING else like them.

Sendmail is definitely the worst. Sendmail users are simply masochists when there are far superior alternatives like postfix.

Carl

Duty · Post by **Duty** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 6:01 pm

I just took a look at devfsd.conf, and it gets my vote.

NiBe · Post by **NiBe** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 9:49 pm

Ugliness doesn't have to make it more difficult to understand, although in this case it does.
/home/$USER/.fvwm/.fvwm2rc!

Chris-P · Post by **Chris-P** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 10:39 pm

It's not amongst the list, but my vote (and the following rant!

) would go to /etc/fonts/local.conf

Not necessarily ugly in its look, but definitely ugly by design.

Why oh why XML... Urrghhh. Turning anti-aliasing on/off is the biggest crock, I hate using a trivial (and global) <this >that setting which treats all fonts equal. All fonts are not equal, and require anti-aliasing to be switched on and off at different sizes.

The woes I've had making a local.conf which turns anti-aliasing off if pixelsize >8 <28 for Andale Mono - but pixelsize >8 <18 for Times New Roman for example... The list goes on. And it's different for bold weights too!

My local.conf (still not finished or to my satisfaction) is growing and growing. Optimising this junk is a nightmare too, tying to avoid lots of repeated bloat and stuff. If the font engine has to parse this mess every time a char is written (oh, I do hope it doesn't do that!) it's going to slow my TT output down drastically by the time this XML junk is complete.

Chris.

Lews_Therin · Post by **Lews_Therin** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 11:25 pm

devfsd.conf

roo_ · Post by **roo_** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 11:37 pm

.fvwm2rc gets my vote, it should be in the list dudes!

My word. Its powerful, but I had to trawl through tonnes of manpages to get a grip of things. Stil don't fully understand some things..

telex4 · Post by **telex4** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:09 am

devfsd.conf!

What's with all the REGISTER/UNREGISTER nonsense? It's an excellent example of a config file designed by the developers for the developers; it makes absolutely no sense to anyone unless they read the docs.

XFree86 is a pretty good config file, IMO. If you read through it, it's fairly obvious what every bit does. They only *look* nasty when they've been autogenerated by the xfconfig program or whatever its called, because all the comments make it difficult to see the file's overall structure.

mem7 · Post by **mem7** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:18 am

I'm REALLY not a fan of the /etc/X11/XF86Config. specifically for setting up the TV-out on my GeForce. Took me a long while, with the aid of several forum posts to get it working.

daveb · Post by **daveb** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 1:21 am

Nermal wrote:Bind config files...

named.conf *shudder*

named.conf might be bad, but the zone data files it points to are worse!

simulacrum · Post by **simulacrum** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 4:42 am

Another vote for Sendmail here. I can't express the frustration I've experienced with Sendmail's configuration. Of course now that I know it I'll never change.

While the configuration directives aren't as bad, another difficult to configure service is inn. I can't stand how inn has a million configuration files all slightly overlapping with directives not clearly defined where they belong. Few people actually run inn, so I guess it's okay to make it difficult for those who do...

snakattak3 · Post by **snakattak3** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 8:35 am

I haven't run into a config yet that wasn't well documented, and thats the most important thing to me. Granted, every d*mn file has different syntax, but for the most part, if its well documented, then its not too bad. The worst one i've used though, is /etc/sensors.conf, its big, long, and very cryptic. But again, if you actually take the time to read through some of it, you can usually do what you intend to.

nephros · Post by **nephros** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 10:31 am

I too thought sendmail.cf to be the ugliest. Or at least it's complicated.

But have you ever looked into the archaelogical dig that is [url=file:///etc/termcap]/etc/termcap[/url]??

quote:

Code: Select all

# From: Victor Duchovni <vic@fine.princeton.edu>
# (hp700-wy: removed obsolete ":nl=^J:";
# replaced /usr/share/tabset/hp700-wy with std because :it#8:,:st=\E1: -- esr)
hp700-wy|HP700/41 emulating wyse30:\
        :am:bs:bw:mi:ms:\
        :co#80:it#8:li#24:sg#1:\
        :al=0.7*\EE:bt=\EI:cd=\EY:ce=10\ET:cl=^Z:cm=\E=%+ %+ :\
        :cr=^M:ct=\E0:cv=\E[%+ :dc=\EW:dl=\ER:do=^V:ei=\Er:ho=^^:\
        :i1=\E~"\EC\Er\E(\EG0\003\E`9\E`1:\
        :if=/usr/share/tabset/stdcrt:im=\Eq:kB=\EI:kC=^Z:kE=\ET:\
        :kI=\Eq:kM=\Er:kS=\EY:kT=\EI:kb=\177:kd=^V:kh=^^:kl=^H:kr=^L:\
        :ku=^K:le=^H:ll=^^^K:me=10\EG0:nd=^L:se=10\EG0:so=10\EG4:\
        :sr=\Ej:st=\E1:ta=^I:ue=10\EG0:up=^K:us=10\EG8:

Tip: read the last line of that file!

sapphirecat · Post by **sapphirecat** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 6:04 pm

/etc/fonts/fonts.conf

Enough said. If I ever get my hands on the party responsible for jamming an imperative language into declarative syntax with no documentation (at the time, at least) beyond the DTD.... I will tie them up and throw them to Microsoft.

screwloose · Post by **screwloose** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 7:20 pm

Another vote for sendmail

Chris-P · Post by **Chris-P** » Wed Mar 03, 2004 7:42 pm

loonxtall wrote:/etc/fonts/fonts.conf

Enough said. If I ever get my hands on the party responsible for jamming an imperative language into declarative syntax with no documentation (at the time, at least) beyond the DTD.... I will tie them up and throw them to Microsoft.

LMAO!

Someone who shares my view - see a few post above.

Can I be there when you tie 'em up, so I can put the boot in too!

The Most Ugly Configuration File

Which of these config files do you think is the ugliest?

The Most Ugly Configuration File

Step away from fvwm2rc...