Re: to conffile or not to conffile
On Mon, 22 Oct 2001, Matt Armstrong wrote:
> In general, I'm confused about non-conffile stuff going in /etc.
If it is a configuration file, it belongs in /etc. If it is a conffile
(i.e., a dpkg-managed configuration file), it cannot be modified in any way
by maintainer scripts.
This basically means that if you need to have configuration data that you
manage in your maintainer scripts, you *MUST* place it in /etc (no, it
cannot go into /dev, /var or anywhere else), and you must not ship it inside
the .deb.
You'll have to deal with all the neat small problems that keeping the user
modifications to that file when you modify it will cause. We definately
could use some libs for that.
> People are used to editing whatever they want to in /etc. It seems
Which is a Very Good Thing, and something we should protect.
> like if a package is going to take over a given file (e.g. an
> /etc/flipit/port symlink), then it should not be in /etc but in /var
> or somewhere else. This way, admins can edit away in /etc/ without
If it is configuration data, it must be kept in /etc...
> worry that some package will come along and wipe out their changes
> simply because it wasn't a conffile.
A package that does anything that braindamaged, must not be allowed outside
unstable (and its maintainer needs a carefully applied cluebat for maximum
skull damage).
--
"One disk to rule them all, One disk to find them. One disk to bring
them all and in the darkness grind them. In the Land of Redmond
where the shadows lie." -- The Silicon Valley Tarot
Henrique Holschuh
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