Re: Debian Policy "10.7.4 Sharing configuration files" question

[Bjørn Mork <bjorn@mork.no>]

Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> writes:

> For reference for others reading this, the postinst of the relevant
> package follows.  Note that it adds an unqualified hostname, potentially
> shadowing a system in the local domain, if the user agrees to update
> /etc/hosts.  The debconf question is priority: high and defaults to true.
> It looks like the purpose of the alias is because the package configures
> an Apache virtual host named rtpg, which I think is also questionable and,
> IIRC, contrary to the draft webapp policy.
>
> I get the impression that the intent of this package is to set up a local
> web interface as essentially a cheap form of GUI to control a local daemon
> on the system, which is an interesting problem for which Debian does not
> currently have good infrastructure support.

well, you could always add a name pointing to 127.0.0.1 in some DNS zone
you control, and then use this name for the package virtual host.  No
need to edit the local /etc/hosts then as long as the system can access
the DNS (which of course may be a false assumption, but at least not
violating any policy requirements).


Bjørn