Needs a different way of working with VCL functions

[kwisatz]

The current way of completely replacing VCL functions is not very practical since it also removes essential parts such as for instance the inclusion of backend selectors, etc.

I don't currently have a concrete idea of what it should look like, any ideas welcome!

[slavaaaaaaaaaa]

For now it would help having prepends/appends on all functions, not just select few.

For example, vcl_deliver only has the option to replace the entire function, without a prepend option, while vcl_rcv has both.

If you'd like, I'll PR the change, but would prefer not going through the hassle if it's not going to get merged anyway. Let me know what you think!

Cheers!

[func0der]

@smaslennikov Just PR it ;) Someone will use it. And as you see, there is a need for it.

Maintainers need the help of the community. As you see, there are many open issues, but not PRs at all.
And even though the maintainer should probably be more active in this project, the contributers should be, too :)

[EmersonPrado]

Is this what you're looking for?

[EmersonPrado]

I also thought about functions which created some code blocks from hashes. This would probably make it quite easier on the user. Pls check this idea out.
Unfortunately, I only have a test environment for Puppet 3, so this example uses the legacy Ruby API.

[EmersonPrado]

Hi @kwisatz and @smaslennikov ! I am working on some ideas, and would like to know your opinion on them, plus @maxchk 's. I thought about some helper functions which could be used in the templates, which would turn simple arrays and/or hashes into full blocks of code. Something like:

$pass_urls => ['/some', '/other', '/whatever']

Ends up in:

if (req.url == "/some" ||
  req.url == "/other" ||
  req.url == "/whatever") {
    return (pass);
}

The function should be flexible enough to test different request parameters (besides req.url) and actions (besides return(pass)) and accept regular expressions - making the test like req.something ~ "regex".

Does this sound good?

[slavaaaaaaaaaa]

Folks,

Since commenting on this, I've changed jobs and haven't used the word Puppet (except in vain) in months. I'm glad this module is resuming strong development, but unfortunately, I don't think I can be of my help here.

Cheers!

[EmersonPrado]

Since we got quite a traction, I added the same stuff for the sub vcl_backend_response in PR 162. I guess we don't need this in other sections, since they have too little code to replace. But, if the people find it a good idea, I can PR the same thing in all other subs too. Just let me know.

[EmersonPrado]

I gave up on the idea of ruby functions to create if blocks. There are so many different situations that either the function would be too complex or to little useful. Or we'd end up with tons of functions trying to cover it all. It would confuse the user more than help. So I'll be happy with whatever we get from the prepend/append functions.

[luyseyal]

@EmersonPrado Does the merged PR close this issue?

[EmersonPrado]

@luyseyal I'd think so. At least, it's all I can think of about. I'd like to hear from the OP, but I don't know if he's following.