Xfce does one thing very right: It stores its settings in plain-text XML files. This allows me to easily read, track, and maybe even distribute these settings to other machines.
(Unlike GNOME’s dconf, which uses some binary file format. Fun fact: The older and now deprecated gconf also used XML files.)
@movq@www.uninformativ.de XML is so terrifying but kinda underrated tbh
@kat@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz I kind of like XML because it’s mostly well-defined and easy for humans to read (unlike YAML, which is a complete mess, imho) … and at the same time, it can get complicated really fast. 🫤 But at least it’s plain-text – that’s the important part in this case. 😅
@movq@www.uninformativ.de omg YAML is so demonic like it pretends to be readable and then THE SPACING. THE FUCKING SPACING
@movq@www.uninformativ.de @kat@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz Any text format beats a binary configuration format. However, YAML and XML are both terrible choices in my opinion. I’d prefer YAML over XML if I had to.
@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org yeah same YAML over XML forever bc at least one is more readable lmfao!! doesn’t forgive YAML’s crimes though… cursed formats
@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org @kat@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz I spent so much time in the past figuring out if something is a dict or a list in YAML, for example.
What are the types in this example?
items:
- part_no: A4786
descrip: Water Bucket (Filled)
price: 1.47
quantity: 4
- part_no: E1628
descrip: High Heeled "Ruby" Slippers
size: 8
price: 133.7
quantity: 1
items is a dict containing … a list of two other dicts? Right?
It is quite hard for me to grasp the structure of YAML docs. 😢
The big advantage of YAML (and JSON and TOML) is that it’s much easier to write code for those formats, than it is with XML. json.loads() and you’re done.
@movq@www.uninformativ.de I found it quite easy to mentally parse this structure.
@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org So it might just be what the youngsters call a “skill issue”? 😅
@movq@www.uninformativ.de OH MY GOD YEAH and you know what kills me??? the fucking key value pairs in lists!!! who the fuck thought of this syntax?!?!
@movq@www.uninformativ.de @kat@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz I’m just used to it because I deal with such things all the time. :-)
Look at that, a mate just told me: What if YAML had even more security issues!? YAMLScript! https://yamlscript.org/doc/cheat/
@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org JESUS fucking christ what kinda cursed shit is this