Re: Init scripts as conffiles
On Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:05:41 +0000
The Fungi <fungi@yuggoth.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 04:33:25PM +0000, Tony Houghton wrote:
> [...]
> > I would have thought it would be better to treat them as not to be
> > modified by the user/admin; any init configuration should be done via
> > /etc/default.
>
> In years gone by, I've frequently had to manually adjust initscript
> contents or symlink ordering to deal with issues. The vast majority
> of initscripts don't source variables from under /etc/default, and
> those which do often lack variables for things like
> overriding/augmenting service start options or defining additional
> local service interdependencies. If policy were altered to make
> initscripts non-conffiles, tons of packages would be insta-buggy (at
> least from a wishlist standpoint, if not worse) due to the loss of
> admin flexibility.
>
> Also, trying to change a major class of system controls which have
> traditionally been considered conffiles to non-conffile status would
> be a near impossibility due to the number of installed systems with
> existing local modifications.
I'd consider packages which require editing of the init script instead
of using /etc/default or similar to be badly designed at best. I know
fixing the mass of existing packages would be too big a job, but I
thought it might be possible to provide a new option in dh_installdeb
and encourage its use for new packages.
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