Re: configure a program -- debconf abuse?

[Petter Reinholdtsen <pere@hungry.com>]

[Joerg Sommer]
> can I use debconf to ask the admin what should be the default look and
> feel for the editor jed? The developers-reference manual tells us to not
> abuse debconf. Is this an abuse?

This depends on how you use it.  If you read the current value from
the existing configuration file, and only change the configuration
file if the debconf question was changed, it is not abuse.  If you
don't consult the current configuration file when setting the default
for the question, and just assume that the current debconf answer is
the good default, then it is abuse.

Check for example how this is done in popularity-contest, where
debconf is used to reconfigure the package.