Re: Some more debconf queries

[John Goerzen <jgoerzen@complete.org>]

Jules Bean <jmlb2@hermes.cam.ac.uk> writes:

> On Wed, May 10, 2000 at 01:33:30PM -0500, John Goerzen wrote:
> > OK, last time I was asking about editing conffiles in-place.  Let's
> > assume that I do.  Then, there are some issues:
> 
> I'm afraid I didn't read your previous thread, so I hope what I say
> doesn't sound contradictory...
> 
> The reasons you give below are precisely why you shouldn't alter a
> conffile programmatically.  If you wish to alter a *configuration
> file* programmatically, that's fine, but don't mark it as a conffile.

Let me give you some examples.

Let's say that I would like to add a debconf front-end to my package
listar, or to a package like postfix, or any of numerous packages that
have configurtaion files.  Now, in the debconf interface, I probably
don't want to ask about all the options.  In these two examples, I
might ask about a domain name.  For postfix, maybe ask whether or not
there is a specific server to which all mail should be sent, or
whether it should all be sent directly.

In these cases, we are faced with either modifying the conffile
directly or using a template.  If a template is used, the user must
run our own utility after editing the file -- not good.

Note that lynx at least edits a file in-place but does not support
dpkg-reconfigure.

I am still trying to figure this puzzle out.

-- John

> 
> At least, that's the general rule.  Very likely, I missed something in
> this specific instance, and hopefully someone will point out what...
> 
> > 
> >  * If my debconf scripts edit a conffile, will the user be presented
> >    with a "replace this conffile" prompt at each upgrade?
> >    If so, how can we work around this?  Will the user know what to do?
> > 
> >  * What happens if the user says 'yes' to replace the file?  Does
> >    debconf get rerun so that it can re-edit it with the values
> >    from the database?
> > 
> >  * And what if the user says 'no' but the file really has changed?
> >    Debconf scripts might expect a different format/file/whatever.
> > 
> > -- John
> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-request@lists.debian.org
> > with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.or
g
> > 
> 
> -- 
> Jules Bean                          |        Any sufficiently advanced 
> jules@{debian.org,jellybean.co.uk}  |  technology is indistinguishable
> jmlb2@hermes.cam.ac.uk              |               from a perl script