Re: PROPOSAL: Extrafiles (was Re: Conffiles...)

[Philip Hands <phil@hands.com>]

> phil@hands.com (Philip Hands)  wrote on 10.04.98 in <[🔎] 2421.892233295@hands.com>:
> 
> > > 	I have one point to add to this. Handling files not mentioned
> > >  in the *.list file was one way of several packages to handle/edit a
> > >  common file, for example, if a bunch of packages need /etc/foo to
> > >  exist, and foo can contain the word bar or bah, then any package, in
> > >  the postinst, finding that /etc/foo did not exist, can question the
> > >  user and create the file (the other packages then accept it).
> >
> > In this situation, would it not be better to have an etc-foo package, that
> > handles the creation of /etc/foo, and have the other packages depend upon it
> > ?
> 
> Careful. You're about to outlaw update-alternatives.

No, I understand the difference --- we were talking about a file that gets 
created by any of a group of packages, and then gets treated as if it 
belonged to each of them.  This is just a mess IMHO.

How would any of this group of packages ever remove the file in question,
if it was the last package of the group to be removed ?  At least with 
update-alternative, the various versions disappear as you remove packages, but 
that wasn't what we were talking about anyway.

Cheers, Phil.



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