Re: GNUstep and /usr/GNUstep...
On 23 Feb 1998, Manoj Srivastava wrote:
> Marcelo> stuff like that. I modified it to use /etc/GNUstep/Defaults
> Marcelo> (sue me, I didn't ask here first -- now I realize I should
> Marcelo> have)
>
> Huh? There is an misunderstanding here. /etc/GNUstep/Defaults
> is great -- it is under /etc (in /etc is just sloppyspeak -- the
> policy asks you to create sub dirs if you think necessary)
I meant I skipped over the fact that /etc/GNUstep (or for that matter,
/whatever/GNUstep) had to be discussed here. After that,
/etc/GNUstep/Defaults fits in naturally.
WindowMaker is the only GNUstep-like package currently installed in the
Debian tree, besides of course, gstep-*. There's a little issue with it
(and I'm surprised that noone has yet filed a bug report because of this,
or at least requested explainantion). There are configuration files
installed in /etc/GNUstep/Defaults/ and some others in
/etc/X11/WindowMaker.
The files in /etc/GNUstep ARE the configuration files for WindowMaker, but
they are never used, they are just copied to ~/GNUstep/Defaults whenever
requiered, that is, when the user runs /usr/X11R6/bin/wmaker, which is a
wrapper arround /usr/X11R6/bin/WindowMaker. They sound like candidates for
/etc/skel, but obviously they don't belong there. I considered something
like /usr/lib/WindowMaker, but after some communication with the
libPropList developer (the library that actually reads /etc/GNUstep), it
became obvious that the files in /etc/GNUstep/Defaults will be used in the
future, I mean, they will not be just skeletons, but system-wide
configuration files. The next step is gsdd (GNUstep Defaults daemon) which
will provide network-wide configuration options.
[ Please allow me a little disgression into the other thread regarding
conffiles ] The other files (/etc/X11/WindowMaker) are menus, cpp macros,
and styles. I flagged them as conffiles because the system administrator
may want to modify them. I thought of installing them in
/usr/X11R6/lib/WindowMaker/Styles (or something like that), but then I
read the policy (2.3.0.0 back then) stating that conffiles don't go
outside /etc, and I put them where they are now. Funny thing is I forgot
about that when placing /usr/X11R6/bin/wmaker where it is now. I have
modified the file to read /etc/X11/WindowMaker/wrapper.conf (BTW, thanks
Manoj, your example of how to do things right was most helpful -- I was
about to figure this out when you posted it) and it's no longer a
conffile. (Neil, are you reading this, where are you? 0.13.1 is out, and
I was hopping you released 0.13.1-1 and not I. I have 0.13.1-0.1)
Back to topic...
I do think the configuration portion of GNUstep should go in /etc/GNUstep,
but I admit it's going to be a little nightmare to convince GNUstep-* to
split the tree among several directories. I haven't had hands on
experience with the GNUstep code (I tried it a couple of times, but it
bombs while compiling), but if it uses anything similar to libPropList (a
Debian package already, I maintain it), it should be a matter of modifying
the database handling portion to look for stuff in places that respect the
FSSTND. /usr/GNUstep is not FSSTND, nor FHS, and I wouldn't like to see
"special" programs that have things in /usr/GNUstep/Pixmaps instead of
/usr/X11R6/include/X11/pixmaps (horrid, isn't it? I mean, ours...)
My 2 colones (local currency)
Marcelo
Reply to: