Re: [Fwd: [Discuss] Debconf as an administration tool]
On Mon, Jul 12, 2004 at 10:55:20AM +1000, Zenaan Harkness wrote:
> Comments appreciated.
>
> -----Forwarded Message-----
> > From: Bruce Perens <bruce@perens.com>
> > To: discuss@lists.userlinux.com
> > Subject: [Discuss] Debconf as an administration tool
> > Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2004 15:50:16 -0700
> >
> > As far as I understand this, not having investigated in great depth:
> >
> > 1. Debconf can configure most anything that is set up by a Debian
> > package to the point that it works. But some more detailed configuration
> > is not done through it.
> > 2. Debconf is database driven. The default database is a flat file, but
> > others can be substituted.
> > 3. Debconf works with graphical and textual front-ends. Web front-ends
> > may be possible.
> > 4. Debconf is internationalized.
> > 5. Debconf is currently set up to administer one system at a time.
> > Currently it doesn't do clusters.
> > 6. Some Debian developers have resisted making Debconf into more of a
> > generalized system configuration tool, for reasons unclear to me.
> >
> > I would hope that any configuration tool we standardize upon could drive
> > debconf.
I originally wrote configure-debian for this purpose. Unfortunately, lack of
time and interest from others has prevented it from becoming anything more than
a simple frontend to dpkg-reconfigure. In addition, the current codebase has
issues with the Gnome debconf frontend, so I'm planning a rewrite based on the
recent tasksel rewrite. The main issue is the vast amount of specific
configuration scripts that need to be written for each app, and that is
something I just don't have the time to achieve on my own. If anyone is
interested in working together to carry this out though, I'd be happy to help.
- David Nusinow
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