Keeping it simple isn't stupid

GeoIP / IPv6

As an IPv6 enthusiast/proponent/fanboy I was really happy to see Maxmind finally put up a free-as-in-beer IPv6 GeoIP database[1]. Now to find some applications that will make good use of this data… ?

(Don’t worry, I’ll pull it into EPEL/Fedora GeoIP packages either way. It’s not a huge file)

Keeping it simple isn’t stupid, no sir!

I’ve worked with configurations in a variety of baroque formats, not limited to but including your common XML formats, Perl scripts (thank you cleanfeed/amavisd), python (ta maradns!), something that may be Erlang (ejabberd), lua (prosody) and have developed a fondess for the simple simpicity of a key = value pair config.

This is especially useful when you’re in a bind with a relatively unfamiliar piece of software, as I was this morning. The last thing you want to be faced with when you’re under the gun and need something working Right Now is some app developer’s bizarro idea of a sane config file, so keeping them simple and sensible is a huge plus – app developers take note, resist the urge to be too clever ?

Say what you will about the old Windows .ini file, at least you know what you had to do with it

(The less said about the prank-gone-wrong that is registry hives the better and I’m glad UNIX vendors never took that particular drug :-))

PS. The application was qpidd from the AMQP stack, for reference and both it’s manuals – and Red Hat’s MRG Guides – helped immensely. Microbrews all around!

[1] http://geolite.maxmind.com/download/geoip/database/GeoIPv6.dat.gz