I was always intending to rewrite CSL so it could work with real files (scan file or directories), add the code to MySQL and allow sub-directories. This would have been ideal for projects and could also work for version control. I never got round to it!!
I think your ideas are similar and would love to see the final version. Most of the code for CSL was writen quite a while ago and I am aware of some minor errors, most of which are php configuration issues.
I did write in in a component based method so that its easily editable, this applies to both design and development. An other thing i wanted to do was add a database abstraction layer but, still allow flat text file usage. I have many ideas to improve it (and to get it work in more configs).
At one time I started to add security but this is something I dont like out of the box. There are various methods for security and sometimes the code can be confusing to users wishing to remove it or change it, not to mention config problems. So I felt it was much better exclude it altogether.
I look forward to seing your improvements
Regards,
Stuart