Shell Programming and Scripting

Hi folks,

In our product installation program we edit xml files by deleting lines and appending new lines instead of them.
For example:
update_Log4plsql_xml()
{
machineName=`uname -n`
hostIP=`cat /etc/hosts | grep ${machineName} | cut -f1`

trap 'clean_up | tee -a $installLog ; exit' 1 2 3 4 15 16
echo "\nChecking log4plsql.xml ..." >> $installLog
errMsg="ERROR: unable to add environmental parameter to log4plsql.xml - see error log"
validMsg="-> VALID: Successfully updated log4plsql.xml"
export log4plsqlxml=${orcaHome}/Log4plsql/properties/log4plsql.xml
export grepXml=HOST_NAME
export lineNum=`grep -n ${grepXml} ${log4plsqlxml} | awk -F: '{print $1}'`
echo "#!/bin/ksh
ed -s ${log4plsqlxml} <<EOF >/dev/null
${lineNum}
d
${lineNum}-1
a
<dburl>jdbcracle:thin:@${DB_HOST}:1521:${ORACLE_SID} /dburl>
.
w
q
EOF" > /tmp/log4plsqlED && chmod 755 /tmp/log4plsqlED && /tmp/log4plsqlED
confirm_return
rm /tmp/log4plsqlED
}

What do u think about this kind of method?
Do you have any efficient alternatives to edit files?

Thanks in advance,
Nir