Should /var/backups really be backup's home dir?

[Rob Browning <rlb@cs.utexas.edu>]

I was wondering about the choice of /var/backups for the home
directory for the backup user.  The only problem I have with it is
that if you're using amanda (and perhaps other backup programs), you
need to have some non-debian files in backup's home directory (like
.amandahosts), and since it's also possible that you'd want to log in
as the backup user now and then for administrative purposes, you're
also going to end up with .Xauthority, .bash*, etc. files in that
directory.  Having those files mixed in with all the important system
backup files seems undesirable to me.  Further, if /var/backups really
is backup's home directory, it seems like it really ought to be owned
by backup, in group backup, and should perhaps even be sgid.  Given
the sensitive nature of some of the information in /var/backups, that
seems undesirable too.

For a long time I just had either a /var/backup or a /home/backup and
that's where backup's home was, but now base-files complains about
that all the time, wanting to change it back to /var/backups.

So what's the "Debian recommended solution"?  It seems like it might
be worth straightening this out one way or another.

-- 
Rob Browning <rlb@cs.utexas.edu> PGP=E80E0D04F521A094 532B97F5D64E3930