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Re: Configuration file shadowed?



Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> wrote:

> On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 21:54:50 +0200, Frank Küster <frank@debian.org> said: 
>
>> Indeed, the TeX Policy needs rewording, and this particular file
>> should be a conffile, because it affects how the TeX programs and
>> helper scripts act.  In general, files that influence documents and
>> are read because they are somehow requested in TeX's input (or
>> BibTeX's or whatever) make no sense in /etc.
>
>         Yes, I agree: those are closer in sense to being library
>  modules (\usepackage{foo} seems to indicate that foo.tex is a
>  library-equivalent, not a configuration file)

foo.tex (or foo.sty in most cases) is indeed a library equivalent, but
we are rather discussing whether an additional foo.cfg or foo.whatever
that is loaded by foo.sty is a configuration file or not.  

I've come across at least one example where it is:

\ProvidesFile{listings.cfg}[2004/09/05 1.3 listings configuration]
\def\lstlanguagefiles
    {lstlang0.sty,lstlang1.sty,lstlang2.sty,lstlang3.sty}

If you have created a local lstlang4.sty, you have to enter it here.
Such a file should be treated as a conf(iguration) file, I think.
However, there are many others that are rather intended for a
per-document customization, or a per-project customization. Note that
web2c in most cases reads also files in the current directory, so if you
have all your scientific reports in ~/univ/reports/, it might make sense
to put a  graphics.cfg in the same directory if you want to keep your
graphics inclusion consistent for all these reports.

I propose the following new text for the TeX Policy, please comment
whether you think it is appropriate (this request goes to Manoj, the
other TeX maintainers as well as everybody else who feels like
commenting).  At the end is the complete patch against
http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/debian-tex/tex-common/trunk/doc/Debian-TeX-Policy.sgml?op=file&rev=0&sc=0,
which also does some changes at other places

,----
| Files that are used to modify the behavior of executables must be
| treated as any other configuration file in a Debian package.  However,
| files that are used to control the typeset output - the appearance of
| documents - need not be treated as configuration files.  It is up to
| the maintainer of the package to decide which files make sense to be
| used for site-wide (as opposed to per-project or per-document)
| customization.
| 
| A typical case for a site-wide configuration file is a file
| that must be changed if a style file should use additional
| modules (installed, for example, into TEXMFLOCAL).  Options
| that only control document output are rather used for a
| particular document or documentation project and should
| usually not be installed as a configuration file.
`----

Thanks in advance, Frank

Index: Debian-TeX-Policy.sgml
===================================================================
--- Debian-TeX-Policy.sgml	(Revision 1511)
+++ Debian-TeX-Policy.sgml	(Arbeitskopie)
@@ -263,11 +263,12 @@
 
         <p>
         Debian packages generally install files in
-        <var>TEXMFMAIN</var> exclusively, and may ship or create empty
-        directories in the other trees, in accordance with Debian
-        Policy.  Configuration file handling is described below in
-        <ref id="configurationfiles">.  Packages should take care to
-        ignore <var>TEXMFHOME</var> in their maintainer scripts.
+        <var>TEXMFMAIN</var>, and may ship or create empty directories
+        in the other trees, in accordance with Debian Policy.
+        Configuration file handling in <var>TEXMFSYSCONFIG</var> is
+        described below in <ref id="configurationfiles">.  Packages
+        should take care to ignore <var>TEXMFHOME</var> in their
+        maintainer scripts.
         </p>
 
       </sect>
@@ -412,19 +413,24 @@
       <sect id="configurationfiles">
         <heading>Configuration files</heading>
 	<p>
-	In a TeX system, in principle every TeX input file can be
-	changed to change the behavior of the system, and thus be
-	regarded as a configuration file.  To prevent inflation of
-	configuration files, packages should not install any TeX input
-	files as conffiles or configuration files.  Instead, they
-	should create an empty directory below
-	<file>/etc/texmf/tex</file> and advice users which files are
-	likely places for configuration.  It is up to the local admin
-	or individual user to place changed copies in
-	<var>TEXMFSYSCONFIG</var> or <var>TEXMFCONFIG</var>,
-	respectively. 
+	Files that are used to modify the behavior of executables must
+	be treated as any other configuration file in a Debian
+	package.  However, files that are used to control the typeset
+	output - the appearance of documents - need not be treated as
+	configuration files.  It is up to the maintainer of the
+	package to decide which files make sense to be used for
+	site-wide (as opposed to per-project or per-document)
+	customization.
 	</p>
 	<p>
+	A typical case for a site-wide configuration file is a file
+	that must be changed if a style file should use additional
+	modules (installed, for example, into TEXMFLOCAL).  Options
+	that only control document output are rather used for a
+	particular document or documentation project and should
+	usually not be installed as a configuration file.
+	</p>
+	<p>
 	Note that <file>/etc/texmf/</file> is a usual TDS tree.  Files
 	can be put into appropriate TDS-conforming subdirectories
 	(e.g. <file>/etc/texmf/fonts/map/</file>), but directories not

-- 
Frank Küster
Single Molecule Spectroscopy, Protein Folding @ Inst. f. Biochemie, Univ. Zürich
Debian Developer (teTeX/TeXLive)

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