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Re: Making mutt more friendly towards site customizations



On Thu, Dec 13, 2001 at 08:48:54AM +0000, Jules Bean wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 12, 2001 at 07:36:14PM +0100, Marco d'Itri wrote:
> > On Dec 12, Richard Atterer <deb-devel@list.atterer.net> wrote:

> >  >source `test -e /etc/Muttrc.local && echo /etc/Muttrc.local || echo /dev/null`
> > I will accept to do such a thing only if we are going to do this for all
> > programs which have a configuration file.

> It has been requested for mutt.  It seems (to me) a very useful
> feature, and unlikely to break anyone's system (after all, it's a
> conffile). Sites often have local configuration issues for mail, I can 
> see my admins finding this useful.  It can be added to other packages
> which would benefit it when someone thinks of it.

The effect of having two config files for mutt (one a conffile and one
locally created) is the same as having a modified conffile.  But by
separating this information into two files, you're doing an end-run
around dpkg's normal handling of changed conffiles.  That's *bad*, and
encourages lots of admin-foot-shooting when one of the changes to
/etc/Muttrc conflicts in strange ways with what the admin has in
/etc/Muttrc.local.

Debian's conffile handling isn't always the most convenient thing in the
world if you do frequent upgrades to unstable, but it's there for a
reason -- and it's a lot better than having the information hidden from
the admin.

Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer

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