Re: update-alternatives suggestion

[Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk>]

Bill Mitchell writes ("update-alternatives suggestion"):
> [..]
> Suggest that, in the absence of the --force flag, the config file
> be searched for a configured priority.  If found, the configured
> priority should override the specified priority.  The file should
> be in some user-friendly format such as:

But you can already override the program's idea of which version to
use, simply by changing the symlink in /etc/alternatives the first
time it disagrees with you.

Your change will then stick.

The only situation where your proposal is advantageous is if the
sysadmin can't make up their mind whether to have a particular version
of vi (say) installed and so keep installing and removing it, but is
quite definite that that version is better than the other(s) they may
have installed !

Ian.