Hi, On Mon, Jul 14, 2003 at 05:45:23PM -0600, Jamin W. Collins wrote: > On Tue, Jul 15, 2003 at 01:20:04AM +0200, Emile van Bergen wrote: > > > Sorry for following up twice, but there is another argument why this > > behaviour of --purge is wrong, which is about usefulness. > > > > Basically, there are three categories of files: > > > > 1. dpkg -L > > 2. conffiles > > 3. user data created using the package > > What about data file created by the package through its normal > operation. Such as log directories, or user account files? Again, > these are created by the application directly, not the user. Which > category do these fall in. Since they don't fit the categories above, > should they be left behind on a purge? Well, for logfiles and similar things I'd say the question of what to do when --purging is a bit less controversial than for category 3. For files created during normal operation of the package I'd ask myself: is this created by the package on behalf of the user? This may give some indication whether it should be regarded as user data, and thus sacred. For log files, this does not hold. In most cases those are not the primary output of the tool when operated by the user, but instruments to gather statistics and monitor the tool's operation. I'd expect --purge to delete such files. It's only user data that should be excluded from --purge, for the simple reason that there should be nothing holier to a computer program than user data. The resemblance with Asimov's first law of robotics may or may not be coincidental. Cheers, Emile. -- E-Advies - Emile van Bergen emile@e-advies.nl tel. +31 (0)70 3906153 http://www.e-advies.nl
Attachment:
pgpBDBc772BJb.pgp
Description: PGP signature