Every piece of software has its own configuration format, and writing parsers for each one is a complex, time-consuming and error-prone process. The SME Server software avoids the whole issue by using templates which generate the correct configuration.
In most cases, SME Server configuration files are over-written when templates are expanded. In a few specific cases, the existing configuration file is parsed and rewritten in-place. This is done where the configuration file (e.g. /etc/fstab) is also automatically updated by some other process.
Templates are stored under
/etc/e-smith/templates/ in a directory
hierarchy which matches the standard filesystem. For example,
the template for /etc/inittab is stored
in the /etc/e-smith/templates/etc/inittab/
directory. Each template is stored as a directory of template
fragments and processed by the Perl
Text::Template module.
The template fragments are concatenated together in ASCIIbetical order (US-ASCII sort order) and the complete file is parsed to generate the appropriate configuration files for the service. The use of fragments is part of the SME Server's modular and extensible architecture; it allows third-party modules to add fragments to the configuration where necessary.
Note: It is also possible to store templates as single files, rather than as a directory of fragments. This method is preserved for backwards compatibility, but does not provide the extensibility of directory based templates. Directory templates should be used for all new templates, even if that directory only contains a single fragment.