On Fri, Jun 18, 1999 at 02:17:30AM -0700, Daniel Quinlan wrote:
> > Interesting points. However I would suggest that most of the files in
> > /etc are about local configurations, and are, in general, not
> > shareable. In fact, the FHS defines /etc as being for non-shareable,
>
> You need to be careful about using the word "share" in the context of
> FHS. /usr/share is shareable data -- shareable between machines of
> different architectures.
>
> /etc is machine specific, which is something else. The hierarchy is
> *also* not shareable between machines because applications are not
> required to guarantee that configuration information can be shared.
> For example, try sharing your network configuration or hostname.
>
> > static data. But what should be done for shareable configuration
> > data? Debian uses /etc as the primary place for configuration files,
> > be they shareable or not. So maybe we should create an /etc/share
> > directory as you suggest. And maybe even an /etc/local directory
> > corresponsing to /usr/local?
> >
> > Maybe I'll bring this up on the FHS list.
>
> /etc is intended to be the only repository for configuration
> information. It is machine specific. However, machine-specific does
> not mean that the configuration information in /etc cannot be shared
> between machines. This can be done via symbolic links, rdist, or even
> some weird overlay filesystem.
>
> The point is that by forcing programs to call open() on files in /etc
> instead of somewhere else, the system administrator has lots of
> flexibility. If you have /usr/local/etc and some configuration files
> are there and some are in /etc, you lose flexibility.
>
> /etc/local or /etc/site might be suitable locat, but I'd like to know
> exactly what problem we're trying to solve. Unless I'm mistaken, the
> original poster wanted to avoid the Debian packaging system, which
> actually already does a good job of allowing you to modify configuration
> files in /etc.
No... The package puts a file that needs to be modified by the site (and
possibly by the individual machine) in /usr/share.. Perhaps the program
is at fault for doing this. I do know that lintian will generate an
error on the package should I run it with a conffile in /usr/share.
Should such conffiles be in /usr/share ? If not, where should they be?
It's currently symlinked into /etc but I don't much like that idea.
--
Joseph Carter <knghtbrd@debian.org> Debian GNU/Linux developer
PGP: E8D68481E3A8BB77 8EE22996C9445FBE The Source Comes First!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
<Flood> netgod: I also have a "Evil Inside" T-shirt (w/ Intel logo).. on
the back it states: "When the rapture comes, will you have root?"
Attachment:
pgpmOzWJXfJ9R.pgp
Description: PGP signature