Draft of update-alternatives.8: request for comments
Since there's no man page for update-alternatives, I have been writing
one. Below is what I have so far; I'd be happy to receive comments.
Thanks,
--
Charles Briscoe-Smith
White pages entry, with PGP key: <URL:http://alethea.ukc.ac.uk/wp?95cpb4>
PGP public keyprint: 74 68 AB 2E 1C 60 22 94 B8 21 2D 01 DE 66 13 E2
UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8) Debian GNU/Linux UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8)
NAME
update-alternatives - maintain symbolic links determining
default commands
SYNOPSIS
update-alternatives [options] --install link name path
priority [--slave link name path]...
update-alternatives [options] --remove name path
update-alternatives [options] --auto name
update-alternatives [options] --display name
DESCRIPTION
update-alternatives creates, removes, maintains and dis-
plays information about the symbolic links comprising the
Debian alternatives system.
It is possible for several programs fulfilling the same or
similar functions to be installed on a single system at
the same time. For example, many systems have several
text editors installed at once. This gives choice to the
users of a system, allowing each to use her favourite edi-
tor, but makes it difficult for a program to make a good
default choice of editor to invoke if the user has not
specified a particular preference.
Debian's alternatives system aims to solve this problem.
A generic name in the filesystem is shared by all files
providing interchangable functionality. The alternatives
system and the system administrator together determine
which actual file is referenced by this generic name. For
example, if the text editors ed(1) and nvi(1) are both
installed on the system, the alternatives system will
cause the generic name /usr/bin/editor to refer to
/usr/bin/nvi by default. The system administrator can
override this and cause it to refer to /usr/bin/ed
instead, and the alternatives system will not alter this
setting until explicitly requested to do so.
The generic name is not a direct symbolic link to the
selected alternative. Instead, it is a symbolic link to a
name in the administration directory, which in turn is a
symbolic link to the actual file referenced. The default
administration directory is /etc/alternatives. This is
done so that the system administrator's changes can be
confined to the /etc directory: the FSSTND (q.v.) gives
reasons why this is a Good Thing.
It is often useful for a number of alternatives to be syn-
chronised, so that they are changed as a group.
When each package providing a file with a particular
DEBIAN 27 November 1997 1
UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8) Debian GNU/Linux UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8)
functionality is installed, update-alternatives is called
to add information about that file to the alternatives
system.
OPTIONS
Exactly one action must be specified if update-alterna-
tives is to perform any meaningful task. Any number of
the common options may be specified together with any
action.
COMMON OPTIONS
--verbose
Generate more comments about what update-alterna-
tives is doing. This option is not yet imple-
mented.
--quiet
Don't generate any comments unless errors occur.
This option is not yet implemented.
--test Don't actually do anything, just say what would be
done. This option is not yet implemented.
--help Give some usage information (and say which version
of update-alternatives this is).
--version
Tell which version of update-alternatives this is
(and give some usage information).
--altdir directory
Specifies the directory in which the alternatives
system stores the symlinks the system administrator
is expected to adjust. By default, this is
/etc/alternatives.
--admindir directory
Specifies the directory in which state information
about the alternatives system is stored. By
default, this is /var/lib/dpkg/alternatives.
ACTIONS
--install link name path pri [--slave link name path] ...
TBW
--remove name path
TBW
--auto name
TBW
--display name
TBW
DEBIAN 27 November 1997 2
UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8) Debian GNU/Linux UPDATE-ALTERNATIVES(8)
FILES
/etc/alternatives/
The default alternatives directory. Can be over-
ridden by the --altdir option.
/var/lib/dpkg/alternatives/
The default administration directory. Can be over-
ridden by the --admindir option.
EXIT STATUS
TBW
DIAGNOSTICS
TBW
BUGS
If you find a bug, please report it using the Debian bug-
tracking system, or, if that is not possible, email the
author directly.
If you find any discrepancy between the operation of
update-alternatives and this manual page, it is a bug,
either in the implementation or the documentation; please
report it.
AUTHOR
Debian GNU/Linux update-alternatives 1.4.0.19 is copyright
(C) 1995 Ian Jackson. It is free software; see the GNU
General Public Licence version 2 or later for copying con-
ditions. There is NO warranty.
This manual page is copyright 1997 Charles Briscoe-Smith.
This is free documentation; see the GNU General Public
Licence version 2 or later for copying conditions. There
is NO WARRANTY.
You can find the GNU GPL in /usr/doc/copyright/GPL.gz on
any Debian system.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TBW
SEE ALSO
FSSTND
DEBIAN 27 November 1997 3
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