Re: we need more variation for conffiles

[Atsuhito Kohda <kohda@pm.tokushima-u.ac.jp>]

From: Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org>
Subject: Re: we need more variation for conffiles
Date: 16 Feb 2000 04:49:00 -0600

> >>"Atsuhito" == Atsuhito Kohda <kohda@pm.tokushima-u.ac.jp> writes:
> 
>  Atsuhito> I do not think that there is a perfect solution that can
>  Atsuhito> handle every situation well, at least it might be difficult
>  Atsuhito> to find such solution, but I only want some better mechanism
>  Atsuhito> of conffiles than the current one.
> 
>         Do we need to change the mechanism, really? Can't the package
>  ask, in the postinst, to make changes anyway? ideally, the postinst
>  can make the changes without losing the users local changes. At
>  worst, the user is informed by the postinst that the new, improved,
>  fixed postinst lies in /usr/share/doc/<pkg>/something.
> 
>         You need only ask the user of you detect a broken conffile.

Yes but I think these methods might need an extra burden of
the user.

>         Frankly, by not making scripts conffiles we can go a long way
>  towards avoiding problems.
> 
>         And when problems do arise, I think a well written postinst
>  can fix the issue.

But I think this needs pretty good efforts for the maintainer 
and the results might be satisfactory or not depending on the 
ability of the maintainer.

>         We may need toreexamin the conffile handling in the future, I
>  am just not convinced that we have been rpesented with a compelling
>  argument yet.

I do not intend to say that "the conffile replaced by default"
is the unique method or the best method.  I should repeat the
sentence; that depends on the packages.

Certainly there are cases in which a well written postinst is 
appropriate and some cases in which providing information to the
user is appropriate; and don't you think that there might be cases
in which "the conffile replaced by default" might be appropriate?

I think it might help both the maintainer and the user in some
cases.

Thanks in advance,		2000.2.18

--
 Debian JP Developer - much more I18N of Debian
 Atsuhito Kohda <kohda@pm.tokushima-u.ac.jp>
 Department of Math., Tokushima Univ.