Re: Deprecation of /etc/alternatives?

[Ansgar <ansgar@43-1.org>]

On Mon, 2023-12-25 at 09:29 +0200, Teemu Likonen wrote:
> * 2023-12-23 15:34:49+0100, Gioele Barabucci wrote:
> > While we are on the topic of alternatives, I hope to see the
> > maintscript-based /etc/alternatives paradigm deprecated in favor of
> > the package-based X-is-X paradigm introduced by `python-is-
> > python3`.
> 
> I hope not. For example, as a user it is nice to execute a single
> command (update-alternatives) to get a high priority alternative for
> "editor". I use my locally built /usr/local/bin/emacs as the editor.
> 
>     /etc/alternatives/editor -> /usr/local/bin/emacs

Users should just set the VISUAL environment variable.

Alternatives are the wrong tool to set user preferences as they can
only be set globally and only by root.

(editor-is-emacs has the same problem of course...)

Ansgar