Re: Question on conf files
--On Fri, Jul 3, 1998 7:09 pm -0500 "Rob Browning" <rlb@cs.utexas.edu>
wrote:
> Shaleh <shaleh@livenet.net> writes:
>
>> app should look for a app.gtkrc file in /etc or somewhere else. But I
>> would like a more broad discussion on what we feel a conffile is. I
>> feel that /etc is getting filled w/ many useless conf files that could
>> prolly go elsewhere. On many commercial UNIX systems, /etc is a place
>> to find system level config like rc scripts and inittab. I know a few
>> people I have talked to were surprised at how crowded Debian's /etc was
>> (I was after my first install also).
>
> There have been big arguments about this in the past, but those were
> mostly related to a slightly different question about what the
> difference between a conffile in the dpkg sense, and a "configuration
> file".
>
> To answer most of *your* question, Debian takes a strong position on
> /etc, and this should be considered a strength rather than a weakness.
> Basically *any* file that records local configuration information goes
> in /etc., no exceptions.
In particular, as people have mentioned before, it is important that /usr
can be considered read-only after install. Although current dpkg styles do
not take advantage of this fact, future ones will.
A 'data file' which the user should never (in normal use) need to modify can
happily live in /usr. A configuration file which, in normal use of the
package, might be modified by the administrator, should be in /etc.
(Again, comments, anyone? Did I get that right?)
Jules
/----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------\
| Jelibean aka | jules@jellybean.co.uk | 6 Evelyn Rd |
| Jules aka | jules@debian.org | Richmond, Surrey |
| Julian Bean | jmlb2@hermes.cam.ac.uk | TW9 2TF *UK* |
+----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------+
| War doesn't demonstrate who's right... just who's left. |
| When privacy is outlawed... only the outlaws have privacy. |
\----------------------------------------------------------------------/
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-policy-request@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Reply to: