Bug#64071: #64071: Automatically generated files should not go to /etc

["Bernhard R. Link" <brlink@debian.org>]

clone 64071 -1 -2
retitle -1 menu: documentation should mislead to put generated files to /etc
severity -1 minor
reassign -1 menu
retitle -2 lintian: check menu-methods to not write to /etc/
severity -2 wishlist
block 64071 by -1 -2

* Bill Allombert <allomber@math.u-bordeaux.fr> [021124 10:28]:
> Menu itself do not generate files in /etc automatically, it is the individual
> menu-method files provided by the menu managers.
>
> So I reassign This bug to general.

I'm reassiging a cloned one to menu, because the menu documentation has
an example with /etc in it and it could give some advice to menu-method
writers what to look at.

I'm reassigning an 2nd clone to lintian, as checking for rootprefix to
not start with /etc sounds like an easy to do task.

Otherwise I suggest this as a little gift bug, as there are some easy
things to help with this that anyone should be able to do:

1) check which menu providers have an menu-method that installs files to
   /etc. File a bug there (with a patch as above) and mark 64071 as blocked
   by this bug.

2) For each of the affected packages check:

   Does the program really need the system wide menu file in /etc or it
   is a configurable location so that it can be put into directly there.
   (In that case, a patch to change that location and to change the
    menu-method script to put the file there (and perhaps removing the
    old generated file in /etc uppon upgrade, iff the old menu-method file
    was unchanged) should suffice).

   If the menu provider (window-manager, whatever... ) does not support
   to have the file at another place, perhaps it can be patched to have
   an alternate location that is used if there is no file in /etc, then
   proceed as above...

   If the program wants the file on a specific place in /etc, then the
   package can have a symlink to another file under /var.
   The menu-method should still be changed to write to this /var
   location, so that a user can just remove the link and place a file
   there without having to disable anything in the menu-method script
   (though doing this could still be an advantage for the user).
   The problem is again the the proper upgrading. Upon updating from
   and older version, the scripts should check if there is a file
   and replace it with a symlink (ideally only if the menu-method
   file is unchanged otherwise either rename it and give a warning
   or keep the file there and give a warning).

If you are an prospective developer and you want to work on this and you
need/want some supervision/counseling/2nd pair of eyes to look at the
patches before you want to submitt them, just send me a mail...

Hochachtungsvoll,
	Bernhard R. Link