Bug#155376: what is default editor in /bin

[Osamu Aoki <debian@aokiconsulting.com>]

Hi folks, 

  "What should be the "default editor" in root partition? "

Can anyone elucidate me and Jordi on this question?

On Sun, Aug 04, 2002 at 11:10:39AM +0200, Jordi Mallach wrote:
> On Sat, Aug 03, 2002 at 09:05:10PM -0700, Osamu Aoki wrote:
> > We had "ae" in /bin for potato ---> Why not "nano" for woody
> > 
> > $ type nano
> > nano is /usr/bin/nano
> > 
> > Let's move it to /bin/nano
> > 
> > Reason:
> > Nano being default install editor, nano should be in /bin so we can do
> > something when /usr is not available.  I do not consider ed good enough for
> > system recovery.
> 
> nano-tiny is in /bin. While it's not the default editor, I've always
> considered the correct editor for this task. Maybe you are right though,
> so if you're not pleased with the nano-tiny argument, please raise this
> issue on debian-devel (and Cc: this bug).

I did not realize nano-tiny.  So removal of "ae" during upgrade did not
trigger installation of "nano-tiny".  That is a problem.

Anyway here is my summary of situation.
    program                                            location
Req ae(potato)      962-26      Anthony's Editor       /bin
Opt nano-tiny       1.1.9-2     free Pico clone        /bin
Imp ed              0.2-19      The classic unix ed    /bin
Imp nano            1.1.10-1    free Pico clone        /usr/bin
Imp nvi             1.79-20     4.4BSD re-imple.       /usr/bin
Opt vim             6.1.048-1   Vi IMproved            /usr/bin
Opt emacs20         20.7-13.1   The GNU Emacs editor.  /usr/bin
Opt nano-tiny-utf8  1.0.8-1     free Pico clone (utf8) /bin
     (nano-tiny-utf8 conflict with nano-tiny)

I think few things needs to happen.

 * nano-tiny needs to be "Required" 
   - nano-tiny must be at least "Important".  
   - nano can be "Optional"
   - possibly move nano-tiny from "editor" to "base" section as in "ae"
   
 * nano-tiny-utf8 should not conflict with nano-tiny
  - compiled command name needs to be changed to "nano-tiny-utf8"
  - set up alternatives system (see next)

 * reasonably easy name must be a command for "default editor"
  - how about "e"  ("ed", "edit" and "editor" are already used name)
  - set up alternatives for "e " between nano-tiny and nano-tiny-utf8
  - this alternatives shall allow future change in default editor

Regards,
Osamu
-- 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+  Osamu Aoki <debian@aokiconsulting.com> @ Cupertino, CA USA         +