NAME

ncm-metaconfig: Configure services whose config format can be rendered via CAF::TextRender.

DESCRIPTION

metaconfig

RESOURCES

/software/components/metaconfig

The configuration information for the component. It is an nlist of services, indexed by absolute path. Each service contains:

  • mode : long

    File permissions. Defaults to 0644.

  • owner : string

    File owner. Defaults to root.

  • group : string

    File group. Defaults to root.

  • backup ? string

    Extension for the file's backup.

  • module : string

    Module to render the configuration file. See "CONFIGURATION MODULES" below.

  • daemons ? caf_service_action{}

    An nlist with foreach daemon the CAF::Service action to take if the file changes.

    Even if multiple services are associated to the same daemon, each action for the daemon will be taken at most once.

    If multiple actions are to be taken for the same daemon, all actions will be taken (no attempt to optimize is made).

  • preamble ? string

    Text to place at start of file.

    It can be useful to include context in a configuration file, in the form of a comment, such as how it was generated. Most of the formats that can be output by this component support "comment" lines, but none of the modules that it uses will generate them. The preamble attribute will be written out verbatim, before the contents is generated. No comment character is added, the user must specify this as part of the preamble string.

  • contents

    A free-form structure describing the valid entries for the configuration file. It is recommended to define another type for each config file, and bind it to these contents, to get the best validation.

  • element

    Predefined conversions from EDG::WP4::CCM::TextRender:

    • yesno ? boolean

      Convert boolean to (lowercase) 'yes' and 'no'.

    • YESNO ? boolean

      Convert boolean to (uppercase) 'YES' and 'NO'.

    • truefalse ? boolean

      Convert boolean to (lowercase) 'true' and 'false'.

    • TRUEFALSE ? boolean

      Convert boolean to (uppercase) 'TRUE' and 'FALSE'.

    • doublequote ? boolean

      Convert string to doublequoted string.

    • singlequote ? boolean

      Convert string to singlequoted string.

CONFIGURATION MODULES

The following formats can be rendered via CAF::TextRender:

  • general

    Uses Perl's Config::General. This leads to configuration files similar to this one:

    <nlist>
      <another nlist>
        scalar value
        another scalar value
      </another nlist>
    </nlist>
    list_element 0
    list_element 1
    list_element 2
    
  • tiny

    Uses Perl's Config::Tiny, typically for key = value files or INI-like files with sections separated by [section] headers.

  • yaml

    Uses Perl's YAML::XS for rendering YAML configuration files.

  • json

    Uses JSON::XS for rendering JSON configuration files.

  • properties

    Uses Config::Properties for rendering Java-style configuration files.

  • Any other string

    Uses Template::Toolkit for rendering configuration files in formats supplied by the user.

    The name of the template is given by this field. It must be a path relative to metaconfig/, and the component actively sanitizes this field.

EXAMPLES

Configuring /etc/ccm.conf

The well-known /etc/ccm.conf can be defined like this:

Define a valid structure for the file
type ccm_conf_file = {
    "profile" : type_absoluteURI
    "debug" : long(0..5)
    "force" : boolean = false
    ...
};

bind "/software/components/metaconfig/services/{/etc/ccm.conf}/contents" = ccm_conf_file;
Fill in the contents
prefix "/software/components/metaconfig/services/{/etc/ccm.conf}"

"contents/profile" = "http://www.google.com";
"module" = "general";
And that's it

Now, just compile and deploy. You should get the same results as with old good ncm-ccm.

Generating an INI-like file

We can generate simple INI-like files with the Config::Tiny module.

Example schema

Let's imagine the file has two sections with one key each:

### This is the first section, labeled "s1"
type section_1 = {
   "a" : long
};

### This is the second section, labeled "s2"
type section_2 = {
   "b" : string
};

### This is the full file structure
type my_ini_file = {
   "s1" : section_1
   "s2" : section_2
};

bind "/software/components/metaconfig/services/{/etc/foo.ini}/contents" = my_ini_file;
Describing the file

We'll define the permissions, who renders it and which daemons are associated to it.

prefix "/software/components/metaconfig/services/{/etc/foo.ini}";

"mode" = 0600;
"owner" = "root";
"group" = "root";
"module" = "tiny";
"daemons/foo" = "restart";
"daemons/bar" = "reload";

And we'll ensure the module that renders it is installed (Yum-based syntax here):

"/software/packages/{perl-Config-Tiny}" = nlist();
Describing the file's contents

And now, we only have to specify the contents:

prefix "/software/components/metaconfig/services/{/etc/foo.ini}/contents";
"s1/a" = 42;
"s2/b" = "hitchicker";
And that's it

That's it! When you deploy your configuration you should see your /etc/foo.ini in the correct location.