Re: Files which want to be different in different packages
Ian Jackson <iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk> said
> My proposal in this area is intended to avoid having to ask questions.
I question that presumption that it's necessary to go to these
lenghts to avoid asking questions. I question whether it's
advisable to guess at the system installer's desires rather than
asking him.
Quite a few packages ask questions when they need information.
Kermit asks what serial port the user has his modem connected to,
what baud rate, and about a few other things. X11 asks a whole
slew of questions. smail asks a bunch of configuration questions.
Other packages also ask questions when they need some information
about the system or about configuration options.
It doesn't seem to me that it's necessary to jump through hoops
to avoid asking what the user wnats to do about resolving collisions
when the user installs two or more packages which want to install
files at the same pathname. It doesn't seem to me that the best
approach is to guess at what the user's desires might be. Better
to ask him what he really wants to do, and get it right.
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