Re: Galloping featurism is not the problem
bruce@pixar.com (Bruce Perens) wrote on 22.11.96 in <m0vR5Wb-00IdU6C@golem.pixar.com>:
> I think you could add Lars' proposal for a configuration database to the
> list of things to be considered for an improved "dselect". Configuration
> should be at selection time, should happen via a script that sets stuff
> in the configuration database, and _batch_ configuration (for what the
> Windows people call a "push" installation) should be possible. The pre-
> and post-install scripts should be noninteractive and should read the
> configuration database. You can call the configuration script "configure",
> and install it in /DEBIAN, and dpkg will move it to
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/<package-name>.configure . The global Debian
> configuration tool that we haven't written yet can call these scripts
> if the user wants to administer something - and the scripts will have to
> have a special argument that says "run your own postinst script" for that
> case.
I think it might be a good idea to have the default onfiguration method of
a package be not script-driven, but table-driven. While that can't do
everything, it can still do a lot; see the kernel configuration tools for
an example that includes conditional options.
And the script method could always be available for those packages that
need more. (In fact, there will probably always remain packages that you
can only configure fully after they have been installed. Take the new X
config as an example. We can only try to pre-configure as many packages as
possible.)
Actually, doing something like that might also help us get a config tool
that could be used *after* installation.
MfG Kai
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