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Re: Bug#150514: Uer maodifications _must_ bre preserved, even is a co-admin said otherwise a few releases ago



>>"Gordon" == Gordon Russell <gor@dcs.napier.ac.uk> writes:


 Gordon> I draw your attention to an extract from 11.7.3 "..must not
 Gordon> overwrite or otherwise mangle the user's configuration
 Gordon> without asking..."

 Gordon> I do ask. Thus I do not violate policy. The MUST clause you
 Gordon> mention is clarified by the text which follows it (e.g the
 Gordon> quoted text shown).

	But you don't. You retrieve the information from debconf,
	where it had been set at some point in the potentially remote
 past by someone else. Had you been asking everytime, this would not
 be an issue.

	I also note that you are overwriting /etc/serial.conf without
 asking, too; I am not usre that this is kosher either.

 	However, since there is an obvious difference of opinion
 between us, perhaps this needs be brought up to the general developer
 body for clarification; is asking a question once, and
 potentially never asking it again, enough to satisfy the policy
 requirement of preserving user changes? My reading of the section is
 that the behaviour has to be similar to how dpkg handles conffiles;
 and dpkg does ask every time.

	The risk of doing otherwise, especially on a multiuser system,
 is that one may just copy configuration files between all the
 machines in ones environment, and, if not all are Debian machines,
 one may lose changes made after copying the common file and tweaking
 it for the local box.

	Note policy stating that common practice is to call the
 update/configure scripts iff  the config file does not already
 exist. 

	manoj
-- 
 Without a thorough understanding of tactics, there can be no
 effective strategy; therefore, any general must have a good
 foundation in the tactical aspects of warfare.  However, it is not
 necessary for a general to be an excellent swordsman, musketeer, or
 tank gunner.  It is sufficient to understand the strengths,
 weaknesses, and proper use of the forces available, and to know the
 strengths and weaknesses of your enemy. Phillip Harbison
 (alvitar@xavax.com)
Manoj Srivastava     <srivasta@acm.org>    <http://www.golden-gryphon.com/>
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