Re: /etc, /usr/etc and bootdisks
Hi,
>>"Vadim" == Vadim Vygonets <vadik@cs.huji.ac.il> writes:
Vadim> On Fri, 4 Jul 1997, Bill Mitchell wrote:
>> Just responding to a few points in this...
>>
>> On Fri, 4 Jul 1997, Vadim Vygonets wrote:
>>
>> > > "We eventually decided that /etc should be the only directory
>> that is actually referenced by programs (that is, everything should
>> look for configuration in /etc and not in /usr/etc). [...] [...]
>> Then, specific files (in /etc) on specific machines may or may not
>> be symbolically linked to appropriate configuration files located
>> in /usr/etc." Pay attention: may or may not. I prefer not. BTW,
>> continuing the quote: [... /usr/etc is, then, optional ...]
>>
Vadim> Ok, you respect fsstnd, but I respect sysadmins' work more, and
Vadim> I think that having Yann's solution for this is much better
Vadim> than following fsstnd, because I think that:
I think you need to join the FSSTND list and submit these
arguments there, so that all of the Linux community may benefit from
this.
Vadim> 1. The Goal of Every Unix is to keep root partition as small as
Vadim> one can.
So, how big is your /etc in reference to / anyway? and how
much will your proposal save? are you sure you are not way past the
curve of diminishing returns?
Vadim> 2. Once you install a machine, you chould not touch root
Vadim> partition, especially not when you install a new program far
Vadim> away in the fileserver land, on a remote partition, and
Vadim> especially not when you have hundreds of machines taking /usr
Vadim> from one fileserver. You must install the program once, and
Vadim> not once + hundreds of times.
I generally use rdist/cfengine, programs designed for the
task, rather than muck up a clean design and make baclups more
complicated. rdist makes central adminstration blindingly simple. Try
that before standing everything on end. You definitey do not have to
install millions of times for every machine, and you do not need
symlinks in /etc either.
>> Could one of the debian-devel FSSTND experts please clarify this?
>>
>> > Ok. If you want to allow them to make system-wide config
>> machine-local, use Yann's proposal, then (remember? first search in
>> /etc, then in /usr/etc).
>>
>> Then, it seems to me, that we'd be requiring all software which
>> runs on debian systems and which uses config files to operate in a
>> manner other than the linux FSSTND says it should operate. That's a
>> bad thing, IMHO. We ought to follow the FSSTND. If there's
>> disagreement with the FSSTND, then those who disagree with it
>> should urge the FSSTND caretakers to change it.
Vadim> We can bug them a little.
Please do so, and when the FSSTND changes, we should change to
be in compliance. Please do not break standards compliance with such
impunity.
manoj
--
"Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science
fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?" Kelvin Throop,
III
Manoj Srivastava <url:mailto:srivasta@acm.org>
Mobile, Alabama USA <url:http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/>
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