[Kde-pim] configuration in akonadi-next

[Aaron J. Seigo]

On Thursday, December 18, 2014 22.14:11 Ingo Klöcker wrote:
> > Access, not format, is what matters.
> 
> Exactly. And that's why access with everybody's favorite console text editor
> is important. Or even with sed, awk, grep, and friends.

Given the contents of akonadi/kontact configuration files, containing useful 
things like IDs that exist in the mysql database, entries like:

State=AAAA/wAAAAD9AAAAAAAADIAAAAaTAAAABAAAAAQAAAAIAAAACPwAAAADAAAAAgAAAAEAAAAWAG0AYQBpAG4AVABvAG8AbABCAGEAcgEAAAAA/////wAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgAAAAEAAAAWAGgAdABtAGwAVABvAG8AbABCAGEAcgAAAAAA/////wAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgAAAAEAAAAgAGQAaQByAGUAYwB0AGkAbwBuAFQAbwBvAGwAQgBhAHIAAAAAAP////8AAAAAAAAAAA==

and

Expansion=c79,c95,c129,c8,c16,c12,c17,c62
HeaderState=\x00\x00\x00ÿ\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x04\x0e\x00\x00\x00\x03\x00\x00\x00\x03\x00\x00\x00d\x00\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00\x00d\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00d\x00\x00\x01P\x00\x00\x00\x04\x01\x01\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00dÿÿÿÿ\x00\x00\x00<81>\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x02\x00\x00\x01P\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x03\x00\x00\x00\x00

and

FavoriteCollectionIds=7,55

when was the last time you use sed, grep, or awk on those files in a 
meaningful action as a user? 

I'd love to be able to query the configuration system for what collections 7 
and 55 are, but they are text files so good #($*ing luck on that. I'd love for 
those values to have some referential integrity to ensure they don't drift off 
from the values they represent, but they are text files so good #$(*ing luck 
with that too.

The whole idea that storage optimized for vim/emacs/kate is useful in the 
least with something like Akonadi/Kontact is out of touch with the reality of 
what is contained therein.

It is also out of touch with the reality of the user base, of which 0% have 
ever used a text processing tool to do anything useful to those configuration 
files. Technically, it's more than 0%, but I figure accurate down to a few 
decimal places is close enough. Do Kontact's text file configs benefit users? 
Nope. If anything, they are a mess.

We should pick the best tools for the specific job at hand, with user benefit 
in mind, rather than stick to some blind ideal. That may indeed mean storing 
data in text files, but it may well not.

> And please spare me talking about efficiency.

I agree, it isn't about efficiency. I'm much more concerned about things like 
replication (e.g. between a central configuration server and local systems), 
application consistency and control (loosely structured text files tend to be 
a PITA for performing version-mandated updates compared to a storage format 
that has a corresponding query language) and management (e.g. backups). For 
all their text glory, these are three things that akonadi/Kontact's 
configuration do not score high on. Text files are not as amazing as some 
people make them out to be in these use cases. 

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
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