[Koha-bugs] [Bug 12824] New: Create a general purpose koha-config script?

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.koha-community.org]

http://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=12824

            Bug ID: 12824
           Summary: Create a general purpose koha-config script?
 Change sponsored?: ---
           Product: Koha
           Version: master
          Hardware: All
                OS: All
            Status: NEW
          Severity: new feature
          Priority: P5 - low
         Component: Packaging
          Assignee: koha-bugs at lists.koha-community.org
          Reporter: magnus at enger.priv.no
        QA Contact: testopia at bugs.koha-community.org
                CC: robin at catalyst.net.nz

The discussion over on bug 12805 (and specifically bug 12805, comment 5 from
Viktor) got me thinking... 

Could we create a general purpose config editing script, at least for the
<config> part of koha-conf.xml, instead of having specific scripts for lots of
different config settings? If we added a (e.g.) YAML file with some metadata
about the different setttings (a description, what kind of data it should
contain), we could perhaps have a friendly tool that could 

- toggle settings off/on ("backup_db_via_tools is currently off, are you sure
you want to enable it?")
- offer options from a list (e.g. "dom" or "grs1" for the indexing modes)
- validate the contents of fields (e.g. check that "port" gets a numeric value,
or check that settings that take a path get a path that actually exists)

Sample usage:

Display all current settings: sudo koha-config -l <instancename>

Display a specific setting: sudo koha-config <instancename> opacdir 

Change a specific setting: sudo koha-config <instancename>
backup_db_via_tools=on
(If backup_db_via_tools was already enabled, the script could say so and exit,
if it was not enabled, it could verify that the user wants to change it, and
make sure the value of the setting gets a 1. It could accept different input
like "on", "1", "enable" etc)

There could even be an interactive mode (sudo koha-config -i <instancename>)
which would display something like a numbered list of current settings, let the
user choose one and prompt for input, validate the input, display the changed
setting etc. 

Of course, some config changes need more work than just changing the setting.
If the user tries to e.g. enable plugins by changing the "enable_plugins"
setting, the script could give a friendly warning that the user should instead
use the koha-enable-plugins script. 

The script could perhaps take a --configfile parameter, so it could be used to
edit configs for non-package-setups too.

Would this just be a lot of work for little gain, or could it be a nice
addition for making the threshold lower for inexperienced admins?

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