Re: [desktop] Unix configuration nightmare
On Wed, 23 Oct 2002 08:50, Sebastian Rittau wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 22, 2002 at 09:46:57PM +1300, John Morton wrote:
> > On Tue, 22 Oct 2002 21:05, Mark Howard wrote:
> > > - Write an entirely new configuration format to be used by all
> > > programs. Write friendly programs for editing these
> >
> > This is pretty much what debconf is all about.
>
> Nonsense. debconf is a set of scripts for creating an initial
> configuration for programs that need such a thing.
Yes, it's system infrastructure oriented. It's quite good for reconfiguring
those programs once installed, too.
> debconf's internal
> configuration storage is private and it offers no generic API for custom
> applications.
Why does this matter?
> > > - Modify/Merge webmin/debconf/xst/gconf/... so that there is a single
> > > tool with multiple interfaces. This would most probably require a small
> > > script to be written for each program.
> >
> > This is pretty much how debconf actually works.
>
> It is?
Well, it has a multitude of interfaces already, and scripts that do the work
of placing the values it gathers into the actual conf files used by various
programs are part of a given program's packageing...
> What you describe here is actually what debconf is for. debconf
> certainly isn't a general-purpose configuration tool.
Hm. Maybe some other folks where thinking of some kind of grand unified
config system so kmail and pine will use your evolution settings, but I was
thinking of just getting some newbie from a stack of debian CDs to a nice,
useful desktop without having to look at anything too scary. *Shrug*.
John
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