Bug#214916: Debconf question for configuring modules is hard to answer
On Thu, Oct 09, 2003 at 01:32:36PM +0200, Fabio Massimo Di Nitto wrote:
> > - Module names have no description
> They have a descrition but it is not shown. The main issue is that the
> descriptions are very long and they do not fit in few chars.
Then we've probably got a usability problem, which can only be solved by
debconf implementing a multiple selection box for items with a long
description attached.
Should I send a wishlist bug to them?
> > - There are too many modules to choose to remember what they are, and
> > too many to look up documentation
> This is absolutely nothing i can do about. apache ships modules and there
> tons of others that are external and that will appear in that list.
That was just to outline what are the factors contributing to the
problem: I definitely don't want you to reduce the number of available
apache modules! :)
> In case of install the defaults are set for the minimum to be able to run
> apache with the default config. On upgrade i of course import the user
> settings,
I assume you import them from debconf if upgrading from a package
>= 1.3.2-1 and from httpd.conf if upgrading from a previous one.
> > Not knowing it, I'll probably hit "OK" and then get mad at checking
> > them all when something breaks :)
> Yell at the modules that do not provide a correct .info file ;)
Sorry, I didn't get it: how could a .info file help in that debconf box?
> > My suggested correction would be to include a description for every
> > module,
> probably this would be a "wontfix" but all this things in one bug make it
> impossible at the moment. Let's take one step at a time.
I can report it as a separate bug if you want
> > to initialize the selections using what is in the existing
> > configuration files and to explicitly say so,
> There is no need to for this, It is obvious (to me) that we do not want to
> break users configs. (other than it happened for my mistake).
> > so that the admin knows
> > that he can safely just press "OK" if (s)he already has a working
> > configuration.
> They can do it now already.
Perfect! But existing practice with xserver-xfree86 or samba, for
example, shows that debconf scripts are able to completely replace the
old configuration file from scratch and with new values, and they often
do.
For this reason I think it's a good idea to explicitly document in the
dialog box that when that debconf dialog is run for the first time on an
existing apache configuration, the defaults have been imported from the
existing httpd.conf (or whatever) file.
It makes you just press "OK" happily and without worries, while
realizing how awesome your debian maintainers really are. ;)
Ciao,
Enrico
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