One of the core problems of Unix is this focus on textual streams.<p>Every configuration file, every proc-style file, every interchange format ends up with its own unique take on what format is easiest for it to present&#x2F;consume.  Every program has its own text parser &amp; generator that generally is the minimum bar to deal with the text that it assumes.<p>And at some point, when taking a bird&#x27;s eye view at all of this, it just turns into an unpredictable and insecure mess.