Re: the netbase/inetd conspiracy

[tb@becket.net (Thomas Bushnell, BSG)]

Anthony Towns <aj@azure.humbug.org.au> writes:

> On Mon, Sep 23, 2002 at 08:25:19PM -0700, Thomas Bushnell, BSG wrote:
> > Anthony Towns <aj@azure.humbug.org.au> writes:
> > > What it really needs is for someone to give a good reason why randomly
> > > deleting config files of installed packages is the best way to go about
> > > things, and should be supported.
> > Huh?  Seems more rational to me to add a sentence to the policy manual
> > clarifying the current practice.
> 
> "Some configuration files can be deleted without breaking things, others
> can't be. Some configuration files when deleted will be reinstated on
> upgrade, others won't be." ? Doesn't seem particularly useful to me.

Currently, policy says (11.7.3), that local changes to configuration
files must be preserved during a package upgrade.

I always thought that deletion counted as a local change which was
supposed to be preserved.  I don't particularly care, but I'm probably
not the only one who read this and had that understanding.

So rather than adding your clunky language above, I would suggest
adding "(though package upgrades are permitted to reinstall
configuration files which have been entirely deleted)".

Thomas