Re: Putting default config files in /usr [was; (newbie) Disruptive LIRC package update.]
At Wed, 11 Nov 2015 18:14:26 +0100,
Marc Haber wrote:
>
> On Wed, 11 Nov 2015 17:29:31 +0100, Ole Streicher <olebole@debian.org>
> wrote:
> >Paul Wise <pabs@debian.org> writes:
> >> I expect systemd users in other distributions would appreciate a
> >> feature to track changes in the default configuration too.
> >
> >Many programs have builtin defaults that are used when they are not
> >overwritten by a configuration file. How do you track the change of
> >these defaults during the program evolution, and how is this different
> >from a evolving default configuration in /usr/lib/?
>
> It is custom that the configuration file contains comments and
> documentation, says what is the default and usually contains a
> commented out configuration option setting the default. I'd expect
> these comments to change if the program's defaults change, which is
> nicely caught by dpkg conffile handling.
Documentation should be put in /usr/share/doc, not in /etc. I always
find it annoying to have to review lots of comment changes in
configuration files during upgrades instead of simply the options that
actually changed. With big config files it often results in running
"grep -v '^#'" to figure out what the actual differences between the
old and new file are...
> It does not help to look for corner cases where Debian is not better
> than the competition, it still excels in the majority of cases and the
> Pöttering-Way of handling configuration is inferior to the way we
> usually do things.
>
> Once and for all we're doing _SOMETHING_ right, let's keep it that
> way.
That Debian has been doing management of configuration files better
than other distributions doesn't mean it is perfect and we should
never change anything again. It is still a good idea to look how
things can be done better. And the way people administrate systems
also change, nowadays it is for example a lot more common to put
configuration in a configuration management system compared to 15
years ago.
Kind regards,
Jeroen Dekkers
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