[2009/471] OpenSolaris Distribution Constructor - Inception AIs

[Shawn Walker]

Sarah Jelinek wrote:
> My biggest concerns about moving to JSON are:
> -No commenting. We absolutely need this for clarity. We do not have any 
> tools to generate or modify our manifests, so the comments in our 
> current manifests help users understand the contents.

The original JSON specification supported comments, but in later 
versions they removed this for the lame reason that "no-one used it" as 
best I can tell.

> -Unicode only support.
> 
> I don't think that JSON is a viable option for us at this point. As a 
> result, my recommendation is to continue using XML.

So despite these disadvantages, there are a few things about JSON (and 
this is why we ended up using it for pkg(5)) that are very attractive:

* far more readable to mere mortals than XML, example:

{
   "publishers": ["opensolaris.org", "sun.com"],
   "packages": ["foo", "bar", "baz"],
}

Imagine the same in XML :)  This also significantly can reduce file size.

* almost a one-to-one mapping between python native data types and 
serialized output (which meant we could just dump an in-memory python 
data structure directy to disk and then read it back without any 
transformation; assuming only strings, numbers)

If the Unicode only aspect doesn't bother you, and you can come up with 
a basic container format that allows comments, and none of the other 
issues are a problem, then the advantages above may be more important to 
you.

It isn't an easy choice, and I won't try to persuade you one way or 
another.  If you're already using XML and everyone's happy, then go for 
it :)

Cheers,
-- 
Shawn Walker