installing an alternative in /etc ?

[Ralf Treinen <treinen@free.fr>]

Hi,

is it OK to have a package install an alternative in /etc, like this:

update-alternatives --install \
        /etc/emacs/site-start.d/51caml-mode.el \
        caml-mode-startup.el \
        /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/tuareg-mode/tuareg-startup.el \
        30

The question is whether update-alternatives will always respect
local modifications, like replacing the symlink 
/etc/emacs/site-start.d/51caml-mode.el by a plain file.

Another possible problem with symlinks pointing outside of /etc is 
that an unsuspecting  sysadmin might modify a file he believes to
reside in /etc but which in reality isn't. Should in this case
the target of the symlink be registered as a conffile?

-Ralf.
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