Re: Bug#224828: Split config file is worrying...
On Dec 22, 2003, at 19:10, Greg Folkert wrote:
The best part *IS* the split out. I can add or remove "pieces".
You can add and remove pieces from a single file, too.
I am running Hundreds of changes in my config for Debian Exim4. I
believe that the Config is a Brilliant use.
I hope the exim4 maintainer never decides to rename one of the .d
files, or add or new one, or combine two, or...
Think about xinetd, a
similar directory work exceptionally well for it. Additionally I use a
very similar setup for managing my virtual apache hosting.
Those work great because they are largely independent. Your FTP server
and your POP3 server don't really have anything to do with each other,
other than running from xinetd.
Your virtual hosts in apache don't have much to do with each other,
either, I'd guess. And I imagine you are the only person that will ever
put files in your virtual host directory, so you don't have to worry
about it breaking.
Exim4 suits simple prospects with the update-exim4.conf.conf.
The point is, both methods work fine for the debconf-only setup, so its
not an advantage.
For more complicated configurations, those changes --- possibly even
including new or removed files --- happening without ANY prompting and
any chance to merge your changes --- is very worrying.
That is all part of making you config properly. For add-ins I use I
numbers that are not the same as what the packages deem. Think large
scale... changes are made in pieces not wholesale.
It depends on what you're doing. I'm doing email virtual hosting.
Different domains are different. They have different policies,
different users, etc. That means several of the routers have to be
fixed.
The virtual users don't all have their own UID/GID (most don't). Mail
is delivered to Maildirs, not mboxs. Users, domains, quotas, UIDs,
GIDs, etc. come out of mysql. That takes some fairly major changes to
the transports.
Mail to postmaster@ and abuse@ is handled specially. That's a few more
routers. I still need to get ip literals for postmaster@ and abuse@
working; that'll probably be another router.
I plan to get he blocklists for senders and hosts to also come from
mysql. Same with virus and spam filtering settings.
My transports directory has a few hundred files in it. I have a few
dozen routers... that use expansions. I have ~200 ACL sets, all
separate
files. It allows me to tailor my domain or user specific configs for
and
label them usefully without having to go through a 3MB ASCII File (with
comments).
It sounds like you'd be in trouble if, for example, an exim4-config
upgrade created a new file that assumed all domains are the same and
are delivered to the users with accounts on the system (the default)
and it happened to come before all your routers.
That's the kind of thing that worries me.
Not likely, I have gone from exim v4.20 -> 4.22 -> 4.24 -> 4.30
Glad to hear it's still working. I'd be less worried if, for example,
there was a clear policy statement on when files in conf.d will be
changed (especially renamed or new ones created).
Personally, I find it more able to transfer a setup similar to this to
another machine.
scp /etc/exim4/exim4.conf root@new-machine:/etc/exim4/exim4.conf
doesn't seem to hard to me, but to each his own, I suppose.
I'd much prefer working with several hundred smaller 5-25 line files,
meaningfully named vs. grepping through a HUGE ASCII file and possibly
losing track of where I am.
Gak. Why do you have several hundred routers, anyway?
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