Re: [Puppet Users] Roadmap wrt the Ruby DSL

Nigel Kersten
Sat, 11 Dec 2010 23:22:33 -0000

On Sat, Dec 11, 2010 at 3:10 PM, Kevin Beckford <lazyweb@gmail.com> wrote:

> I noticed the posts about a ruby DSL, and I was wondering what the future
> plan is for this functionality.  I _just_ noticed this.
>
> Originally I was drawn to puppet because of the declarative nature of the
> DSL and frankly, because I am not that familiar with Ruby.
>
> Are we moving towards ruby as the language to describe manifests?
>

No.

The aim of the Puppet DSL was always to provide a simple, readable and
declarative language.

I believe that over time we accepted changes to the language that a small
subset of users needed, and that complicated the Puppet DSL.  It''s hard
to
strike the right balance with an open source project between accepting
patches and curating tightly.

There are people who already know Ruby who don''t wish to learn the
Puppet
DSL. We primarily produced the Ruby DSL for them, but also so that some of
the more exotic functionality can be provided there, and not in the Puppet
DSL.

Sometimes you can''t just abstract away your complexity into a
function/type/provider/fact, and you need more complexity in the DSL, and
hopefully the Ruby DSL achieves this for us.

I''m very committed to the Puppet DSL.

I think there are huge advantages in having a simple language for describing
config management, but also recognize that for some people the Ruby DSL is a
better fit.

--
Nigel Kersten - Puppet Labs -  http://www.puppetlabs.com