From 9e9271fd4f91d859145280c732d3f5dde8fc67cc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Nico Schottelius Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:44:38 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] why should I use cdist? Signed-off-by: Nico Schottelius --- docs/web/cdist.mdwn | 1 + docs/web/cdist/why.mdwn | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 38 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/web/cdist/why.mdwn diff --git a/docs/web/cdist.mdwn b/docs/web/cdist.mdwn index ee24e910..74457fc8 100644 --- a/docs/web/cdist.mdwn +++ b/docs/web/cdist.mdwn @@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ cdist is an alternative to other configuration management systems like [cfengine](http://www.cfengine.org/) and [puppet](http://www.puppetlabs.com/). + * [[Why should I use cdist?|why]] * [[Documentation|documentation]] * [[Supported Operating Systems|os]] * [[Installation|install]] diff --git a/docs/web/cdist/why.mdwn b/docs/web/cdist/why.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 00000000..883d6338 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/web/cdist/why.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,37 @@ +[[!meta title="Why should I use cdist?"]] + +There are several motivations to use cdist, these +are probably the most popular ones. + +## Known language + +Cdist is being configured in +[shell script](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_script). +Shell script is used by UNIX system engineers for decades. +So when cdist is introduced, your staff does not need to learn a new +[DSL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain-specific_language) +or programming language. + +## Powerful language + +Not only is shell scripting widely known by system engineers, +but it is also a very powerful language. Here are some features +which make daily work easy: + + * Configuration can react dynamicly on explored values + * High level string manipulation (using sed, awk, grep) + * Conditional support (**if, case**) + * Loop support (**for, while**) + * Support for dependencies between cdist types + +## More than shell scripting + +If you compare regular shell scripting with cdist, there is one major +difference: When using cdist types, +the results are +[idempotent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idempotence). +In practise, that means it does not matter in which order you +call cdist types, the result is always the same. + + +[[!tag cdist unix]]