[Koha-devel] Moving system preference serialization into the database

[Chris Nighswonger]

While doing some beginning work on a local syspref editor to fit in
with the new system preference interface, I have run into the file
permission "problem" of writing to files inside Koha's template
directory structure. This is due to the fact that the system
preferences are serialized in yaml format and stored in *.pref files
within the template directory structure. While the problem of writing
to files is one which needs to be addressed, it is not one that we
have time to address before the 3.2 stable release.

As regards the system preference issue in particular, the problem may
be better resolved by moving the serialization into a table in the
database. As it stands presently, part of the system preference data
is kept in the database in the systempreferences table while the other
part is kept in the *.pref files. Moving the serialization into the
database will have the benefits of keeping the data in one location as
well as overcoming the file writing issues.

So, are there any serious objections to making this change?

Kind Regards,
Chris