User output (_not_ prompting) vs prompting in postinst scripts
Dear All:
I started writing a nice long detailed email about this but realized
my question was rather simple so I'll skip the details... (ok I lied
they are below)
I realize user _prompting_ in postinst must be done with debconf.
What about user _output_?
This was peaked by the lead OpenMRS developer trying out a package I
made for an Ubuntu PPA (_thank you_ Sebastian for your hints):
https://launchpad.net/~openmrs/+archive/ppa
"The .deb worked great for me! However, it 10.10 it didn't tell me
anything after installation. At the very least it should say: go to
http://localhost:8080/openmrs is that possible?
Ben"
Andreas had originally advised me to put this in README.Debian which I did:
http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-med@lists.debian.org/msg06097.html
"
README.Debian should probably say something like
Go to http://localhost/openmrs to complete the setup
"
and Debian Policy Manual
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-binary.html#s-maintscriptprompt
talks about _prompting_ in postinst, and has the following paragraph:
"If a package has a vitally important piece of information to pass to
the user (such as "don't run me as I am, you must edit the following
configuration files first or you risk your system emitting
badly-formatted messages"), it should display this in the config or
postinst script and prompt the user to hit return to acknowledge the
message. Copyright messages do not count as vitally important (they
belong in /usr/share/doc/package/copyright); neither do instructions
on how to use a program (these should be in on-line documentation,
where all the users can see them)."
To me, technically, go to http://localhost/openmrs ... seems like
"instructions to use the program" and thus is properly placed in
README.Debian. However, I am not 100% sure of this.
Additionally, Ubuntu policy seems almost verbatim on this as well:
http://people.canonical.com/~cjwatson/ubuntu-policy/policy.html/ch-binary.html#s-maintscriptprompt
"If a package has a vitally important piece of information to pass to
the user (such as "don't run me as I am, you must edit the following
configuration files first or you risk your system emitting
badly-formatted messages"), it should display this in the config or
postinst script and prompt the user to hit return to acknowledge the
message. Copyright messages do not count as vitally important (they
belong in /usr/share/doc/package/copyright); neither do instructions
on how to use a program (these should be in on-line documentation,
where all the users can see them)."
but I just wanted to double check before I tell Ben no it's not possible.
Thank you
Yours
Misha
Reply to: