> Don't waste time on discussions within a level. For example, JSON and YAML both have their problems and pitfalls but both are probably good enough.
Disagree. YAML is considerably easier to work with than JSON, and it’s worth dying on that hill.
Disagree. YAML is considerably easier to work with than JSON, and it’s worth dying on that hill.
I think DER is better (for structured data), although it is a binary format, but it is in canonical form. I made up the TER format which is a text format which you can compile to DER, and some additional types which can be used (such as a key/value list type). While Unicode is supported, there are other (sometimes better) character sets which you can also use.
(However, not all configuration files need structured data, and sometimes programs are also useful to include, and these and other considerations are also relevant for other formats, so not everything should use the same file formats anyways.)