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Add new dsc file type formats #987
Description
Activity
As part of the Bicep work, I'm working on a feature to add support for a new
importextension. So with this extension model, you can build an extension to do exactly what you want. The input format can be anything whether it's encrypted or a .ps1 or mof. The only requirement is that the resulting output is a DSCv3 config JSON in plaintext.Reacted by Ryan Yates, Mikey Lombardi (He/Him) and Whindmar Saksit- moved this from Todo to In Progress in DSC Working Group
on Oct 1, 2025 Discussed within the WG, the
importextension model enables anyone to support other formats
Summary of the new feature / enhancement
Instead of using YAML or JSON as well both are painful
And not forcing use of Bicep, it would be worthwile to have a more flexible configuration format that takes a bit of how bicep & ps1/psd1's work today.
This is not small bit of work but would allow sending encrypted configs over services like Tor (inc their own private implementations) which some users may want or desperately require.
I appreciate in someways this goes against things like US Exect Directive for security, though by having it encrypted prior to transit and decrypted on the end client, even if all the other traffic isn't encrypted, I believe is a suitable middle ground.
Proposed technical implementation details (optional)
New file formats that can be used for configurations that can be automatically compressed & encrypted prior to being sent to remote hosts & dsc on those hosts using existing web tech but not reliant on the traffic being encrypted as part of the transit.