Murteza YesilApr 19, 2025

Dear developers,
Please don't use JSON for configuration files. It is intended for carrying data, and nothing else. Therefore, it is good at carrying data, and nothing else.

I strongly believe that anything that doesn't support comments shouldn't be used for configs. Comments are indispensable for short documentation, or putting a URL to proper documentation.

There are other plain text file formats better fit for this purpose, such as TOML, YAML, and even XML.

Show threadMurteza YesilApr 19, 2025

If you coded your program in JS, I understand that you might be inclined to use JSON. Maybe you want to reduce bloat or dependency by not including a TOML or YAML parser. But you are making it more difficult for us to contribute to your project, or fix something on our end.

It is quiet old too. Probably older than time itself given that it doesn't support date standards ISO 8601 or RFC 3339 out-of-the-box. That is because it doesn't need to, because it is not for configurations or manifests.

Show threadMurteza YesilApr 19, 2025
What is your favourite plain text format for configurations?
JSON
14.9%
TOML
34.9%
YAML
32%
Other (comment please)
18.3%
Poll ended at .
Show threadKarl Voit  

@murtezayesil I'd say that depends on several things.

The one thing I was assuming was that I need to write and maintain the config file as a human. For that, I find TOML quite easy to write and read.

If your config files are (auto-)generated and read only by software, it really doesn't matter at all as long as it follows one standard IMO.

Apr 20, 2025 at 8:01pmWeb
Show threadMurteza YesilApr 20, 2025
@publicvoit True to some degree. If config is auto generated, my local changes could get overwritten. I mean why not embrace Window's central registry like system in Linux. It is an industry standard.
But if software is telling me where the default config file is for advanced configuration, allowing me to set the path for its config file in its limited settings page or through CLI, there is a good chance this is not one of those cases.
Show threadKarl Voit  Apr 20, 2025

@murtezayesil

> Window's central registry [...] It is an industry standard.

I'm not sure if this is standardized.

And: not every pattern is a sane way of doing things. Particularly when it comes from Microsoft. I can give you *lots* of examples where they did the most stupidest things where nobody is able to follow their reasoning. 🤷

Show threadMurteza YesilApr 20, 2025
@publicvoit Standard unfortunately doesn't always mean sane or smart way of doing things. That is because if enough people are doing something same way, it becomes a standard.
My point is that we should use raise awareness for using standards for the purposes they were meant to serve. Purpose of JSON is to carry data between server and client. A JSON file should die after carrying that data. Using it as a config file is stretching its purpose at best, and making configuring impossible at worst.
Show threadKarl Voit  Apr 21, 2025

@murtezayesil I subscribe to your message.

> My point is that we should use raise awareness for using standards for the purposes they were meant to serve.

However, this would also "prevent" or "suppress" creative ways of (re-)using technology which is also an important aspect.

So unless there is an issue related, I would not stick to "this is how it was meant to be" without a good reason.

Show threadcesarbApr 20, 2025
@murtezayesil @publicvoit We already have a "registry like system in Linux", it's Gnome's dconf, which Gnome-oriented software uses to store their settings.
Show threadMurteza YesilApr 21, 2025
@cesarb @publicvoit I am aware of that. But I often find registries crowded and overwhelming. Gnome registry however has description for its values, default value for resetting, range or list of acceptable values etc. And dconf-editor exposes them nicely. Kinda making me say, I wish all configuration systems were this helpful.
This can be somewhat achieved thanks to comments in TOML and YAML. But some file formats, such as JSON, were not designed to be used as configuration files, which is okay.