docs: Add two faq entries
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docs/faq.md
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docs/faq.md
@@ -9,6 +9,18 @@ I wanted a next generation config management solution that didn't have all of
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the design flaws or limitations that the current generation of tools do, and no
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tool existed!
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### Why did you choose `golang` for the project?
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When I started working on the project, I needed to choose a language that
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already had an implementation of a distributed consensus algorithm available.
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That meant [Paxos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paxos_(computer_science)) or
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[Raft](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raft_(computer_science)). Golang was one
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language that actually had two different Raft implementations, `etcd`, and
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`consul`. Other design requirements included something that was reasonably fast,
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typed and memory-safe, and suited for systems engineering. After a reasonably
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extensive search, I chose `golang`. I think it was the right decision. There are
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a number of other features of the language which helped influence the decision.
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### How do I contribute to the project if I don't know `golang`?
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There are many different ways you can contribute to the project. They can be
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@@ -125,6 +137,47 @@ The downside to this approach is that you won't benefit from the automatic
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elastic nature of the embedded etcd servers, and that you're responsible if you
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accidentally break your etcd cluster, or if you use an unsupported version.
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### In `mgmt` you talk about events. What is this referring to?
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Mgmt has two main concepts that involve "events":
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1. Events in the [resource primitive](resource-guide.md).
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2. Events in the [reactive language](language-guide.md).
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Each resource primitive in mgmt can test (check) and set (apply) the desired
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state that was requested of it. This is familiar to what is common with existing
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tools such as `Puppet`, `Ansible`, `Chef`, `Terraform`, etc... In addition,
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`mgmt` can also **watch** the state and detect changes. As a result, it never
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has to waste time and cpu resources by polling to test and set state, leading to
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a design which is algorithmically much faster than the existing generation of
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tools.
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To describe the set of resources to apply, mgmt describes this collection with a
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language. In order to model the time component of infrastructure, we use a
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special kind of language called an [FRP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_reactive_programming).
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This language has a built-in concept that we call "events", and which means that
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we re-evaluate the relevant portions of the code whenever a value or function
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has an event that tells us that it changed. The `R` in `FRP` stands for
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reactive. This is similar to how a spreadsheet updates dependent cells when a
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pre-requisite value is modified. [This article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactive_programming)
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provides a bit more background.
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Whenever any of the streams of values in the language change, the program is
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partially re-evaluated. The output of any mgmt program is a [DAG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed_acyclic_graph)
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of resources, or more precisely, a stream of resource graphs. Since we have
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events per-resource, we can efficiently switch from one desired-state resource
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graph to the next without re-checking their individual states, since we've been
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monitoring them all along.
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One side-effect of all this, is that if a rogue systems administrator manually
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changes the state of any managed resource, mgmt will detect this and attempt to
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revert the change. This makes for excellent live demos, but is not the primary
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design goal. It is a consequence of tracking state so that graph changes are
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efficient. We implement the event detection via an intentional per-resource
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[main loop](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_loop) which can enable other
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interesting functionality too!
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Make sure to get rid of your rogue sysadmin! ;)
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### How can I run `mgmt` on-demand, or in `cron`, instead of continuously?
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By default, `mgmt` will run continuously in an attempt to keep your machine in a
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