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225 lines
9.5 KiB
225 lines
9.5 KiB
kconfigdata.h contains definitions of the data formats used by kconfig.
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Configuration entries are stored as "KEntry". They are indexed with "KEntryKey".
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The primary store is a "KEntryMap" which is defined as a QMap from "KEntryKey"
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to "KEntry"
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KEntry's are stored in order in the KEntryMap. The most significant sort
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criteria is mGroup. This means that all entries who belong in the same group,
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are grouped in the QMap as well.
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The start of a group is indicated with a KEntryKey with an empty mKey and a
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dummy KEntry. This allows us to search for the start of the group and then to
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iterate until we end up in another group. That way we will find all entries
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of a certain group.
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Entries that are localised with the _current_ locale are stored with bLocal
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set to true. Entries that are localised with another locale are either not
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stored at all (default), or with the localization as part of the key (when
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reading a file in order to merge it).
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[WABA: Does it make sense to keep both localized and non-localised around?
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Can't we just let the localised version override the non-localised version?]
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Currently the localization bit is the least significant sort criteria, that
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means that the localised version always follows the non-localised version
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immediately.
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<Changed for KDE 3.0>
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Entries that are being read from a location other than the location to
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which is written back are marked as "default" and will be added both as
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normal entry as well as an entry with the key marked as default.
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When entries are written to disk, it is checked whether the entry to write
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is equal to the default, if so the entry will not be written. The default
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entry always follows directly after the normal entry, due to the sorting.
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(After that the localised version follows)
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When entries are written to disk, it is checked whether the entry to write
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is equal to the default, if so the entry will not be written.
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</Changed>
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Open question:
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Should unmodified entries that are written back be compared with the default
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too? This seems to be mostly a transition issue.
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<Changed during KDE 3.0 / 3.2>
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Extra functions:
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bool entryIsImmutable(key); // Can entry be modified?
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bool hasDefault(key); // Is there a system wide default set for the entry?
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void revertToDefault(key); // Restore to default
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void deleteEntry(key); // Remove entry
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Note that there is a subtle difference between revertToDefault() and deleteEntry().
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revertToDefault() will change the entry to the default value set by the system
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administrator (Via e.g. $KDEDIR/share/config) or, if no such default was set,
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non-existant.
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deleteEntry() will make the entry non-existant.
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Entries are marked "immutable" if the key is followed by [$i]. This means
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that a user can not override these entries.
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Entries can be marked as deleted if they are followed by [$d]. This
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is needed if the system administrator has specified a default value but the
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entry was deleted (made 'non-existant'). In that case we can't just leave
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the entry out since that would mean we get the default from the system
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administrator back the next time we read the file.
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</changed>
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When an entry is read with readEntry(key, defaultValue), non-existing
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entries will return "defaultValue" while hasKey(key) will return "false"
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for such entries.
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Currently all entries are stored in memory. When KConfig is "sync()'ed"
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it reads the file that it is about to overwrite (for the second time), it
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then merges in the entries it has in memory and writes the result back to
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the file. It does NOT update its map of entries in memory with the entries
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(re)read from disk. It only updates the entries in memory when
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"reparseConfiguration()" is called.
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Open Question: The standard writeEntry() function returns the original value,
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is this needed? Nobody seems to use it.
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Open Question: The bPersistent flag doesn't seem to be used... could it be removed?
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Open Question: Is the bNLS flag needed? Localised entries seem to be mostly
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useful for default files, are they ever created by the user itself?
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Open Question: Would it be worthwhile to lock a user option that is equal to the
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default so that it doesn't change when the default changes?
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KDE3.0 Changes
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==============
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*) writeEntry now returns void instead of QString.
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*) deleteEntry functions added
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------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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KConfig XT
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==========
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My buzzword picker offered KConfig XT ("eXtended Technology") and KConfig NG
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("Next Generation"). Since the planned changes are ment to be evolutionary
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rather than revolutionary, KConfig NG was dropped.
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Goals
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=====
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* Have the default value for config entries defined in 1 place. Currently it is
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not uncommon to have them defined in three places:
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1) In the application that reads the setting in order to use it
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2) In the settings dialog when reading the setting
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3) In the settings dialog when selecting "Use defaults".
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* Provide type-information about config entries to facilate "KConfEdit" like
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tools. Ideally type-information also includes range-information; this is even
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mandatory if enums become an explicit type.
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* Facilitate the documentation of config entries.
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Instead of relying on the defaults that are hard-coded in the application,
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rely on default configuration files being installed in $KDEDIR. The technical
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changes required for this are very minimal, it is mostly a change in policy.
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Type information can be provide by preceding every entry with a formalized
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comment.
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Work to be done:
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* KConfig needs to be extended to provide access to the default values provided
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by the default config files. KConfig already stores this information internally.
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(DONE)
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* A formal comment structure needs to be designed that can convey type-information.
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Preferably in such a way that it is easily parsable by both machine and user.
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* KConfig needs to be extended, or another class created, that is able to parse
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the formalized comments.
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* A tool needs to be developed that can assist developers with the generation
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and verification of default configuration files including type-information.
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Drawbacks:
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* We rely on default configuration files being properly installed.
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* The user can break applications by making improper modifications to these
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files.
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* It is not possible to store defaults settings in a config file that are
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of a dynamic nature. Examples are settings derived from other settings,
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e.g. a color setting could be derived from the current color theme, or
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e.g. the default high score user name which is determined by the user
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currently logged in.
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Some random ideas:
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* The format of the entries would be something like this:
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[Mail Settings]
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#!Type=string
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#!Description=SMTP server to use for sending mail
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#!Description[nl]=SMTP server voor het versturen van mail
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Host=wantelbos.zogje.fr
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- the type could be subclassed more, e.g. strings can be "email", "hostname",
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"url", etc.
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- having translations in these files is very arguable. external po's would be
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better.
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Class overview
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KConfigBase
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v
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KConfigBackend <-----> KConfig <------> KConfigSkeleton /--< myapp.kcfg
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| | | /
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v v |*---------------<
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KConfigINIBackend KSimpleConfig |kconfig_compiler \
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| \--< myconfig.kcfg-codegen
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v
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MyConfig <-----KConfigDialogManager----> MyConfigWidget *---< myconfigwidget.ui
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uic
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KConfigBase: defines API for generic config class
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KConfig: functional generic config class that supports merging of cascaded
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configuration files
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KSimpleConfig: functional generic config class without support for cascading
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configuration files.
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KConfigBackend: defines API for config backend, t.i. the actual handling
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of the storage method and storage format.
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KConfigINIBackend: the standard (and only one so far) class that implements
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the config backend using the file-based .INI format
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for configuration files
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KConfigSkeleton: base class for deriving classes that store application
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specific options providing type-safety and single-point
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defaults.
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MyConfig: An application specific class that offers configuration options
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to the applications via variables or accessor functions and that
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handles type-safety and defaults. MyConfig is just an example
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name, the application developer choses the actual name.
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myapp.kcfg: File describing the configuration options used by a specific
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application. myapp.kcfg is just an example name, the application
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developer choses the actual name.
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myconfig.kcfg-codegen: Implementation specific code generation instructions
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for the MyConfig class. myconfig.kcfg-codegen is
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just an example name, the application developer
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choses the actual name.
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KConfigDialogManager: Class that links widgets in a dialog up with their
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corresponding confguration options in a configuration
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object derived from KConfigSkeleton.
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MyConfigWidget: Dialog generated from a .ui description file. Widget names
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in the dialog that start with "kcfg_" refer to configuration
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options.
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