XML/XSD based configuration files.

[Daniel Molkentin]

Am Dienstag, 7. Dezember 2004 17:49 schrieb George Staikos:
> > I have no particular opinion on the KConfig side, but the concept put in
> > a general perspective -- to use XML -- is very interesting. I think that
> > not using XML for anything data related(with exceptions) is equivalent to
> > hitting oneself with a brick. Unfortunately we still do it, and it will
> > take long before the "aha" goes through the audience at large, I think.
>
>     Do you realize how slow it is to parse this stuff relative to our
> current format?  I've been doing lots of Kst profiling lately and XML
> parsing is a huge factor for us.  I'm glad we don't use XML for KConfig
> natively.

Did you use libxml or the Qt classes? I can't find the link currently, but 
there was a benchmark where some xml parsers were tested. libxml was the 
fastest and QDom the slowest implementation. The trolls promised to deliver a 
faster DOM implementation for Qt 4, so we just have to check wether it can 
take on libxml's speed. it's not XML that's slow. 

I can't really imagine that our current code for parsing ini files is as fast 
as it could get either. I remember Ian saying that there was still quite some 
potential left, but it would be a pain to do without becoming BIC.

Anyway, I think multiple backends are important. Currently, KDE lacks a 
configuration backend that can be conviniently sourced from a directory 
server (yes, I know, there is the disconnected problem with laptops and 
stuff, but I am sure we are not the first to think about those problems and 
that there are solutions to this).

Given this has not changed, I would vote to make config backend independence a 
design goal for KDE 4 and let the 3.x series live in peace in that respect.

Cheers,
  Daniel