Manoj, as Ian pointed out, I don't think your answer applies here. Maybe this is due to my inability to explain what my goal is, as auctex maintainer, or maybe it is due to the fact that you wish to address a problem which is not mine. I'm asking you're help, as well as that of any knowledgeable Debian maintainer here, to help me solve my goal (which I think debian-emacsen charter allow me to). Frankly, in this thread I don't care a whit about the "/etc/ configuration files" issue, and I don't want to make the slightest point regarding it. If you care to help me, I ask you to read carefully what follows. Otherwise, you may of course stop right here. I, the maintainer, don't want to store the system administrator decision about enabling auctex by default in a configuration file, as I think she has no need to. I rather want she to take this decision through debconf; she should be free to do "dpkg-reconfigure auctex" ad any time. I don't think this bears any problem to people wanting to run their own AUC TeX CVS version instead of the Debian package, or even both at the same time. No load-path will ever be messed with if they don't enable auctex by default, and even if they do the version of AUC TeX loaded won't be necessarily mine (i.e., that of the Debian package): it will be the first one in the load-path; "(require 'tex-site)" has no load-path hardwired in and does just that: it enables AUC TeX site wide, regardless of what version of "tex-site.el" is considered first. Now, users may set the load-path as they wish in "/etc/emacs/site-start.el", so I don't need to provide any configuration file just for this purpose, and in fact I don't want to. Please, refer to <[🔎] 87ofj6nnl2.fsf@hal.Olympus.INVALID> for more background information, if you need to. What I ask is: how do I tell Emacs to "(require 'tex-site)" on startup if the user answered accordingly to that debconf question? >>>>> "MS" == Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> writes: >>> "Ian" == Ian Zimmerman <itz@speakeasy.org> writes: Manoj> Either never change the file once created; or preserve user Manoj> changes. I don't want users to change any file, with regard to this issue. They need not. Manoj> If you never change the file once created, you have nothing to Manoj> worry about. It is only when people are changing files that are Manoj> already in place in /etc do questions arise. This means that if I need a file with "(require 'tex-site)" I may not put that file in /etc/. Fine. Ian> Sorry, but I don't think either of you answer Davide's question. MS> How much clearer do I have to be? I think you weren't addressing the right question, no matter how clearer you could have been. You might tell me where else should I put that file, or what other action should I take to accomplish my above stated goal. Ian> Which is, WTH should he do to achieve the installation flexibility Ian> he wants to provide? I write this as someone who used auctex for a Ian> while, and I very much appreciated having the choice. Precisely. MS> Why is my answer not an answer here? [...] MS> He should not over write any user changes. User changes WRT this issue, in the opinion of auctex maintainer, should only happen through debconf. Adam> This doesn't mean you can interpeted as attempting to save Adam> changes. Must is must is must. Davide> Should we change the Debian Emacs policy to allow me to put Davide> them somewhere else? MS> You can;t. These are configuration files, and they must be in /etc. Yours Emacs add-on packages ones may well be all configuration files. This one of mine it's not. Really. I hope it's now clear that I see a need for some other scheme to pass lisp form to Emacs on startup which doesn't involve configuration files. Don't assume a priori that this should only happen through configuration files. OTOH, if you don't think that this is a legitimate need, i.e., if you want to restrict package maintainers flexibility, please take care to elaborate why. Adam> Emacs policy is wrong in this sense then. Emacs policy does not Adam> replace Debian Policy, it enhances it. And Debian Policy is Adam> very clear about files in /etc. Ian> This is a non-sequitur, isn't it? The question is, WHERE SHOULD THESE Ian> FILES BE? The Debian policy argument implies they shouldn't be in Ian> /etc. So, where else? MS> The files are precicely in the place they need to be. These MS> are configuration files for the package, and hence, as per policy, MS> they *MUST* be in /etc. Period. I beg to disagree. Configuration files must be in /etc. Files in /etc/ must be configuration files. This is fine with me. What I disagree about is the fact, which I think your wordings imply, that emacsen add-on packages can't have some way to pass lisp forms to Emacs on startup other than through configuration files. -- Salve, | GNU PG (GPG) Key ID: 939686D5 Davide | <http://www.linux.it/~salve/>
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