[FUNARCH'26] Local-First Distributed Configuration (Experience Report)

Local-First Distributed Configuration (Experience Report) (Video, FUNARCH 2026) Michael Sperber (Active Group, Germany) Abstract: We have been developing a distributed application called Lokalisierung using functional programming since 2015. Lokalisierung automatically configures mobiles devices in a large organization of car-inspection shops. It uses peer-to-peer synchronization to distribute configuration data among the devices, without the use of a central server. This paper describes the original design and evolution of the system. Specifically, we highlight how the event-based architecture supports synchronization but also enables flexibility for changes after the original rollout such as undoing configuration changes, and database thinning. We also reflect on design and implementation mistakes we made during its 10-year development. Article: https://doi.org/10.1145/3830438.3830957 ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5280-9632 Video Tags: functional programming, software architecture, education, doi:10.1145/3830438.3830957, orcid:0000-0002-5280-9632 Presentation at the FUNARCH 2026 workshop, August 29, 2026, https://icfp26.sigplan.org/home/funarch-2026 Sponsored by ACM SIGPLAN.