7. FeaturesΒΆ
But cdist ticks differently, here is the feature set that makes it unique:
- Simplicity
 - There is only one type to extend cdist called type
 - Design
 - Type and core cleanly separated
 - Sticks completely to the KISS (keep it simple and stupid) paradigm
 - Meaningful error messages - do not lose time debugging error messages
 - Consistency in behaviour, naming and documentation
 - No surprise factor: Only do what is obviously clear, no magic
 - Define target state, do not focus on methods or scripts
 - Push architecture: Instantly apply your changes
 
- Small core
 - cdist's core is very small - less code, less bugs
 - Fast development
 - Focus on straightforwardness of type creation is a main development objective Batteries included: A lot of requirements can be solved using standard types
 - Modern Programming Language
 - cdist is written in Python
 - Requirements, Scalability
 - No central server needed, cdist operates in push mode and can be run from any computer
 - Requirements, Scalability, Upgrade
 - cdist only needs to be updated on the master, not on the target hosts
 - Requirements, Security
 - Uses well-know SSH as transport protocol
 - Requirements, Simplicity
 - Requires only shell and SSH server on the target
 - UNIX
 - Reuse of existing tools like cat, find, mv, ...
 - UNIX, familiar environment, documentation
 - Is available as manpages and HTML
 - UNIX, simplicity, familiar environment
 - cdist is configured in POSIX shell