[TYPO3-dev] Cosmetics with localconf.php

[Ernesto Baschny [cron IT]]

Steffen Kamper schrieb am 29.04.2010 22:41:
> Hi,
> 
> i discussed this issue with Christian Kuhn and Jeff Segars and we are
> positive about it, but i like to hear your opinion.
> 
> Install tool doesn't care about cosmetics in that file, it also adds
> comments to it like
> 
> // Updated by TYPO3 Install Tool ...
> EM does it too:
> // Updated by TYPO3 Extension Manager ...
> 
> When ever you edit this file manually, and 100% of devs i know do that,
> these lines are without a real effort and mostly disturb.
> 
> So i would like to get rid of them.
> 
> Further i would like to get the file sorted in sections like
> 
> // DB params
> $typo_db_username = ..
> ...
> 
> // System
> $TYPO3_CONF_VARS['SYS']...
> ...
> 
> // Graphics
> $TYPO3_CONF_VARS['GFX']...
> ...
> 
> // BE
> $TYPO3_CONF_VARS['BE']...
> ...
> 
> // FE
> $TYPO3_CONF_VARS['FE']...
> ...
> 
> // Extensions
> $TYPO3_CONF_VARS['EXT']
> ...
> 
> This would make it more easy to change / read the file, port it to
> another server, use it with svn etc.
> 
> May be you'd say this is a feature, but as it doesn't change any
> functionality i would declare it as clean-up.
> 
> Your opinion or suggestion?

I like the "clean up", but I have some problems that have been rised
here already:

1)
I usually load "server-specific" settings from a local
"localconf-local.php" (DB-access, umask-settings, group-mask setting).
This also loads server-specific settings from a central
"localconf-server.php" (IM settings, binary paths, etc). This has to
happen at the start and only after that the "site specific" settings are
loaded (potentially overriding previous settings).

This is only "my setup" and I believe there are "dozens" of variants in
the wild which people created in the past 10 years. So having a
"auto-cleanup" has always the potential of altering the functioning
localconf.php.

2)
The information "changed by EM" or "changed by IT" has been useful
information for me, especially if suddenly a working site "breaks". We
can at least get a hint when and what has been changed in the setup
which might have caused the trouble.


To sum up: The cleanup must be configurable and requiring someone to
actively turn it "on". And it should be possible for it only to be
applied to a specific "section" of the localconf.php (between two
markers for example), leaving remaining parts "untouched". If this is
the case, I would welcome that feature!

Cheers,
Ernesto