RFC -- application without user configuration?

[David Thornton]

Bank green screens don't have user configuration. It just is. and is that
way for X years ; Tuns of hot keys to make like go smoothly.

David Thornton


On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 6:03 PM, Christopher Browne <cbbrowne-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>wrote:

>
> On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 3:42 PM, Giles Orr <gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
>> On 13 January 2014 14:48, William Park <opengeometry-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Question:
>>>     Do you know sizable application that has no user configuration at
>>>     all, or the configuration is done in source file?  When I say
>>>     "sizable", I mean things like spreadsheet, not 'ls' or 'make'.
>>>
>>>     Most, if not all, apps nowadays have user configuration as their
>>>     selling point.  So, I would be interested in hearing from old guys.
>>>
>>> Background:
>>>     I decided against using or extending Python, because it eventually
>>>     becomes a trap.  It's easy at the beginning, but as soon as
>>>     customization comes into play, I'm stuck with what I can find or do
>>>     in Python.  Some will say Python/Ruby is designed for that.  But,
>>>     considering target audience, business practice, use case,
>>>     deployment, and support, it's not that simple in real world.
>>>
>>>     So, I wrote my own code, which turns out to be glorified wordexp(3)
>>>     with if/for/while things.  But, in trying to avoid trap dug by
>>>     someone else, it feels like I'm digging my own trap to fall into.
>>>
>>>     In ERP/accounting system, you practically never make changes once
>>>     the business flow has been set.  You will see people use 20 years
>>>     old setup, and that's because their business process has not changed
>>>     for 20 years.  So, "user configuration" has different meaning in
>>>     this part of world.
>>>
>>>     I'm interested in looking at applications which has no user
>>>     configuration at all, or if there is config file, then it's included
>>>     as part of source.  Whether you edit external config file or source
>>>     file, editing would be the same.  Just that users don't get to edit
>>>     anything.
>>>
>>
>> The wm2 window manager: http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wm2/ .  You'll
>> like it: install and go, thou shalt not configure.  Just remember that
>> removing configurability means you'd better have defaults so good they
>> appeal to enough people to support your product.  That's not easy.
>> Speaking of which ... I liked wm2, but I imagine it appealed to a very
>> narrow audience!
>>
>>
> wmx  <http://www.all-day-breakfast.com/wmx/> went in the other direction;
> the file Config.h, in the source tree, is where you can configure the 106
> things that can be fiddled with.
>
> You then recompile wmx, which pretty much requires recompiling *all* of it
> (in that pretty much all the files will refer to Config.h).
>
> Mind you, it was, in my pre-tiling WMs days, my  second favorite choice,
> and I never modified the built-in configuration at all.
> --
> When confronted by a difficult problem, solve it by reducing it to the
> question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
>
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