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I can see your argument for consistent structure--I definitely don't love vimscript or nginx's custom configuration language. But that doesn't require we jump out of text--JSON and XML are viable, provided they remain geared toward hand editing.

It may be that given proper tooling for database-driven configuration it could be visible and accessible, but the fact is, I haven't seen timing that pulled that off.

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JSON and XML are both horrible in their own ways, especially for use as configuration languages.

True, but my point is that the alternatives being proposed are vaporware. JSON works now. IMHO JSON is the least shitty of the shitty solutions that exist.

I guess my point is that if JSON is the least shitty alternative then I can't really agree that Unix-type environments would be better off using it for everything, because JSON is a pain in the ass to type and edit with a regular text editor... the same with XML... and the same with S-expressions... YAML is a monster, CSV isn't really structured, and so on...

Basically there is no universal structural language that's ergonomic and nice for all uses, so it makes sense that the Unix hackers of yore preferred to create tiny custom languages for everything. It's also because "worse is better".

https://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html

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