# Comments in pihole-FTL.conf

**URL:** <https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/comments-in-pihole-ftl-conf/48068>\
**Category:** beta\
**Created:** [July 6, 2021, 7:35am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/comments-in-pihole-ftl-conf/48068 "2021-07-06T07:35:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jpgpi250](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/jpgpi250/32/286_2.png) [@jpgpi250](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/jpgpi250)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 7:35am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/comments-in-pihole-ftl-conf/48068/1 "2021-07-06T07:35:21Z")

</div>

I have a lot of comments in my pihole-FTL.conf, mainly to identify undocumented settings or point to topics where the setting is introduced / explained

one of my comments triggered a php error on the settings page

```auto
## decrepated !!!

```

 ![image](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/uploads/default/original/3X/6/b/6b83604fa488b1e5e846cf42eda3c3f5a812cd3a.png)

- pihole-FTL uses ' **#**' as comment sign
- php uses ' **;**' as comment sign (there are other options - ' **//**', ' **/\* \*/**')

workaround:

- remove ' **!!!**' from comment, **other chars may possibly trigger this error**
- use ' **#;**' as comment in pihole-FTL, thus satisfying both pihole-FTL and php

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DL6ER](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/dl6er/32/281_2.png) [@DL6ER](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/DL6ER)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 8:09am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/comments-in-pihole-ftl-conf/48068/2 "2021-07-06T08:09:18Z")

</div>

Actually, FTL does not care about `#`. Instead, everything FTL cannot parse as valid config setting is ignored. So using `;` everywhere is fine as well. Prepending with `ä` would equally work, too, etc.

Additional hint: Pi-hole v6.0 will change the config file format to [TOML](https://toml.io). The existing `pihole-FTL.conf` file will be automatically rewritten into a TOML document. Existing comments will be lost but the new file will contain comments for everything, for instance:

```toml
# This file is managed by pihole-FTL
#
# Do not edit the file while FTL is
# running or your changes may be overwritten
#
# Last update: 2021-06-10 12:09:06

[dns]
  # How should FTL reply to blocked queries?
  # Possible values are: ["NULL", "IP-NODATA-AAAA", "IP", "NXDOMAIN"]
  blockingmode = "NULL"

  # Should FTL walk CNAME paths?
  CNAMEdeepInspect = true

  # Should _esni. subdomains be blocked by default?
  blockESNI = true

  # Should FTL analyze possible ECS information to obtain client IPs hidden behind NATs?
  EDNS0ECS = true

  # Should FTL hide queries made by localhost?
  ignoreLocalhost = false

  [dns.ipBlocking]
    # Use a specific IPv4 address in IP blocking mode
    # Possible values are: <valid IPv4 address> or empty string ("")
    IPv4 = ""

    # Use a specific IPv6 address in IP blocking mode
    # Possible values are: <valid IPv6 address> or empty string ("")
    IPv6 = ""

  [dns.rateLimit]
    # How many queries are permitted...
    count = 0 ### CHANGED, default = 1000

    # ..in the set interval before rate-limiting?
    interval = 0 ### CHANGED, default = 60

[resolver]
  # Should FTL try to resolve IPv4 addresses to hostnames?
  resolveIPv4 = true

  # Should FTL try to resolve IPv6 addresses to hostnames?
  resolveIPv6 = true

  # Try to obtain client names from the network table
  networkNames = true

  # How (and if) hourly PTR lookups should be made
  # Possible values are: ["IPV4_ONLY", "ALL", "UNKNOWN", "NONE"]
  refresh = "IPV4_ONLY"

[database]
  # Should FTL load information from the database on startup to be aware of the most recent history?
  DBimport = true

  # How much history should be imported from the database [seconds]? (max 24*60*60 = 86400)
  maxHistory = 86400

  # How long should queries be stored in the database [days]?
  maxDBdays = 365

  # How often do we store queries in FTL's database [seconds]?
  DBinterval = 60

  [database.network]
    # Should FTL anaylze the local ARP cache?
    parseARP = true

    # How long should IP addresses be kept in the network_addresses table [days]?
    expire = 365

[http]
  # Does local clients need to authenticate to access the API?
  localAPIauth = true

  # Should FTL insert extra spaces to prettify the API output?
  prettyJSON = false

  # How long should a session be considered valid after login [seconds]?
  sessionTimeout = 300

  # On which domain is the web interface served?
  # Possible values are: <valid domain>
  domain = "pi.hole"

  # Webserver access control list.
  # Possible values are: <valid ACL>
  acl = "+0.0.0.0/0"

  # Ports to be used by the webserver
  # Possible values are: list of <[ip_address:]port>
  port = "8080,[::]:8080"

  [http.paths]
    # Server root on the host
    # Possible values are: <valid path>
    webroot = "/var/www/html"

    # Sub-directory of the root containing the web interface
    # Possible values are: <valid subpath>, both slashes are needed!
    webhome = "/admin/"

[files]
  # The location of FTL's log file
  # Possible values are: <any writable file>
  log = "/var/log/pihole-FTL.log"

  # The location of FTL's PID file
  # Possible values are: <any writable file>
  pid = "/run/pihole-FTL.pid"

  # The location of FTL's long-term database
  # Possible values are: <any FTL database>
  database = "/etc/pihole/pihole-FTL.db"

  # The location of Pi-hole's gravity database
  # Possible values are: <any gravity database>
  gravity = "/etc/pihole/gravity.db"

  # The database containing MAC -> Vendor information for the network table
  # Possible values are: <any macvendor database>
  macvendor = "/etc/pihole/macvendor.db"

  # The config file of Pi-hole
  # Possible values are: <any setupVars file>
  setupVars = "/etc/pihole/setupVars.conf"

  # The log file used by the webserver
  # Possible values are: <any writable database>
  HTTPinfo = "/var/log/pihole/HTTP_info.log"

  # The log file used by the dynamic interpreter PH7
  # Possible values are: <any writable file>
  PH7error = "/var/log/pihole/PH7.log"

[misc]
  # Privacy level
  privacyLevel = 0

  # Set niceness of pihole-FTL (can be disabled by setting to -999)
  nice = -30 ### CHANGED, default = -10

  # Artificially delay FTL's startup (0 to 300 seconds)
  delayStartup = 0

[debug]
  # Temporarily enable all debug flags
  all = false

  # Enable extra logging of database actions
  database = false

  # Enable extra logging of detected interfaces
  networking = false

  # Enable extra logging of shared memory lock actions
  locks = false

  # Print extensive query information
  queries = true ### CHANGED, default = false

  # Print flags of queries received by the DNS hooks
  flags = true ### CHANGED, default = false

  # Print information about shared memory buffers
  shmem = true ### CHANGED, default = false

  # Print information about garbage collection
  gc = false

  # Print information about ARP table processing
  arp = false

  # Enable extra logging of regex matching details
  regex = false

  # Enable extra logging of API activities
  api = true ### CHANGED, default = false

  # Print information about overTime memory operations
  overtime = false

  # Enable extra logging of query status changes
  status = true ### CHANGED, default = false

  # Print information about capabilities granted to the pihole-FTL process
  caps = false

  # Enable extra logging in dnsmasq's log routine
  dnsmasq_lines = false

  # Print vector operation details
  vectors = false

  # Extensive information about hostname resolution like which DNS servers are used
  resolver = true ### CHANGED, default = false

  # Print EDNS(0) debugging information
  edns0 = false

  # Enable extra client detail logging
  clients = false

  # Print aliasclient details
  aliasclients = false

  # Log information about processed internal events
  events = true ### CHANGED, default = false

  # Enable logging of script helper activity
  helper = false

  # Print config parsing details
  config = true ### CHANGED, default = false

```

You can see that FTL will _automatically_ add comments to changed values to highlight that they were changed and also mentioning what the default value would have been. The file above is what my current Pi-hole v6.0 development machine uses. The format is by no means fixed and may change until we're ready for public testing.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![yubiuser](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/yubiuser/32/12100_2.png) [@yubiuser](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/yubiuser)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2021, 11:26am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/comments-in-pihole-ftl-conf/48068/3 "2021-07-06T11:26:38Z")

</div>

> [@jpgpi250](#):
>
> mainly to identify undocumented settings or point

Please file a bug in the doc repo if you encounter undocumented configuration settings.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jpgpi250](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/jpgpi250/32/286_2.png) [@jpgpi250](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/jpgpi250)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 7:26am UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/comments-in-pihole-ftl-conf/48068/4 "2021-07-07T07:26:20Z")

</div>

> [@DL6ER](#):
>
> Actually, FTL does not care about `#` . Instead, everything FTL cannot parse as valid config setting is ignored. So using `;` everywhere is fine as well. Prepending with `ä` would equally work, too, etc.

don't think this is a good idea (using anything else but a leading ' **#**')

reason, scripts don't like this...  
from query.sh

```auto
piholeDir="/etc/pihole"

# Source pihole-FTL from install script
pihole_FTL="${piholeDir}/pihole-FTL.conf"
if [[-f "${pihole_FTL}"]]; then
  source "${pihole_FTL}"
fi

```

result (tested change on single line, using ' **//**')

```auto
/etc/pihole/pihole-FTL.conf: line 32: //GRAVITYDB=/etc/pihole/gravity.db: No such file or directory

```

using ' **#;**' doesn't cause any problems.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![DL6ER](https://discourse-cdn.pi-hole.net/user_avatar/discourse.pi-hole.net/dl6er/32/281_2.png) [@DL6ER](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/u/DL6ER)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 5:10pm UTC](https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/comments-in-pihole-ftl-conf/48068/6 "2021-07-08T17:10:51Z")

</div>

> [@jpgpi250](#):
>
> reason, scripts don't like this

I see. However, `source`ing external files in scripts is dangerous as malicious code can be inserted and runs at the permissions of the running script.