Re: "All packages use debconf"
On 17-Jul-01, 10:25 (CDT), Ben Bell <bjb@debian.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 17, 2001 at 10:19:57AM -0500, Steve Greenland wrote:
> > postinst. But please don't add a debconf script to a package that
> > currently installs non-interactively, just because there are some
> > configuration options. Debconf is better than asking in the postinst,
> Surely adding these as low-priority would be the best compromise? Then
> they are configurable with debconf, and can be set by users wanting all
> questions to be asked, but not by people who set debconf to only ask
> higher priority questions.
The problem is that as soon as you add debconf, then the configuration
file can no longer be a conffile, which means that there is no good way
to track upstream changes and/or detect local admin edits.
Debconf is very mis-named. It is not a general configuration tool. It
is simply a way to move interaction from postinst scripts to the
beginning of the install process, and to provide a standard set
of interfaces. Once install is complete, the proper way to change
configuration is to edit the files, just like always.
Yes, some package maintainers have gone to great lengths to properly
support dpkg-reconfigure, and integrate upstream changes in the defaults
and new configuration parameters. I admire them. I also curse them every
time my local config gets wiped due to a mistake. I'd much rather they
just popped up a (debconf :-)) msgbox that suggested I look at the new
features available, see /usr/doc/foo/examples or some such.
Yes, the above is just my opinion. But one of the best things about
Debian is "local changes to configuration must not be fucked with"
policy and the conffile mechanism which supports it. Debconf is not
compatible with conffiles, and I'd much rather have a good default and a
conffile rather than hacked together debconf script asking low priority
questions that I will never even see overwriting my changes.
Steve
--
Steve Greenland <stevegr@debian.org>
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