On Thu, 2003-02-13 at 21:21, Vince Vielhaber wrote:
> I certainly wasn't trying to provoke anything. It just seems odd to me
> that when the distribution installs a package and places it's config files
> in /etc and later the admin happens to upgrade by the instructions with
> the package, it's acceptable for the config files to now be in two places
> and you don't find it confusing. What happens when a new admin comes on
> and tries to figure out which config file is which? Ever try to figure
> out where the hell Pine's config really is?
I've not used pine, and there doesn't seem to be an official Debian
package, (it doesn't allow any changes to its source, I believe, which
makes it ineligible). But if it were an official package, I know I
should look in /etc/pine.
If the admin installs a local build of something he has installed as a
package, he will presumably take care to separate the two. If his local
build is to replace the package, he should purge the installed package,
so that there are no traces of it left. Since he is administering a
distribution installation, it is certainly his responsibility to
understand the difference between local and distributed packages, as
well as the different places that each should put their configuration
files. (Incidentally, Debian's changes from the upstream configuration
are documented in the package.) In the end, though, when we package for
a distribution, we expect people to use the packages. If they want to
build from source, the packages system lets them do it. Anyone who is
building from the upstream source must be presumed to know what he is
doing and take responsibility for it.
What your comments strongly suggest to me is that projects like
PostgreSQL and pine, along with everything else, should comply with FHS;
then there will be no confusion because everyone will be following the
smae standards. Messes arise when people ignore standards; we have all
seen the dreadful examples of MySQL and the Beast, haven't we?
--
Oliver Elphick Oliver.Elphick@lfix.co.uk
Isle of Wight, UK http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver
GPG: 1024D/3E1D0C1C: CA12 09E0 E8D5 8870 5839 932A 614D 4C34 3E1D 0C1C
======================================== "The earth is the LORD'S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they
thatdwell therein." Psalms 24:1
