Introducing ncf: an intuitive and powerful configuration language

This Ignite talk will introduce ncf through the explanation of why it was built, and what problem it attempts to solve. This will not be a technical talk, rather an overview of the motivation, core principles and key points that lead to building ncf, and a quick glance at what the result looks like.

In a nutshell, what is ncf? Well, CFEngine 3 is a powerful configuration management tool that's speed, small footprint, multi-platform support, network resilience and smart agent-based approach attract many. However, many have a hard time with the language and tooling, and need an easier way. CFEngine has been described as flour, eggs, milk and butter: all the ingredients needed to make a cake, but no recipe. ncf is that missing recipe - and much more.

ncf's philosophy is built around the core concepts (beware! acronyms!): DRY, KISS, POLA, intuitive, extensible, open source.

Jonathan Clarke is the Product Owner for Rudder, the open source IT automation & compliance tool, at Normation, a software company he co-founded in Paris in 2009.

He has been working in IT infrastructure, almost exclusively with open source tools, since his beginnings as a system administrator. His work is now focused around automation for configuration and compliance, in particular Rudder. He is also a contributor to several open source projects including CFEngine, LSC and OpenLDAP. In his spare time, he enjoys good food, real ale, cinema and cycling around Paris.

Jonathan is a regular speaker at international events including Solutions Linux, Open World Forum, FOSDEM, RMLL, Floss UK Spring Conference, Loadays, LDAPCon...