Re: [Evolution] Issue with formatting of gconf files.

[Adam Tauno Williams <awilliam whitemice org>]

On Sun, 2011-02-06 at 16:10 -0800, les wrote:

> > If in fact you "write converters between systems" then you should *LOVE*
> > g-conf; it's XML!  Meaning you can reliably, easily, and quickly process
> > the contents.  Verses the crap-hole that is a "text file". 
> A text file can indeed be a crap-hole, especially if one chooses not to
> form thoughts as paragraphs, situations as chapters, or sequences into
> phrases and sentences that others can understand.  So can any form of
> programming language.  And that includes eXtended Meta Language.

It's "eXtensible Markup Language"

> And the syntax of XML does not mean you

Yes, it does.

python
import from lxml import etree
f = open('filename.xml', 'rb')
d = etree.parse(f)

> can reliably easily and quickly
> process the contents as seen here by the comments that don't recognize
> where this comes from, what it represents or even how to edit it without
> taking it out of context into a texteditor and editing it by hand
> because the tools are currently broken that somehow created the mess
> that exists on my system right now.

No mess - it's beautiful.

> As you gain experience, you too, will come to agree with these comments.

Nope.  I've been a profession UNIX System & Network Administrator for
twenty years.  *Experience* has taught me that text files are evil;
they have a strong initial appeal with their false simplicity, but
ultimately what matters is that data consistency can be enforced and
that the data is [reliably] machine-readable.  Go XML!