Re: /var/state?
Marc Haber schrieb am Sonntag, den 27. Juni 1999:
> /var/state isn't in the fsstnd, yet it exists on Debian slink. Is
> there a text available that states what belongs into /var/state vs.
> /var/lib ("application state information")?
/var/state was introduced in FHS 2.0:
--------------------------- schnipp ------------------------------
5.11 /var/state : Variable state information
/var/state -- Variable state information
|
+-<editor> Editor backup files and state
+-misc Miscellaneous state data
+-xdm X display manager variable data
+-<pkgtool> Packaging support files
+-<package> State data for packages and subsystems
This hierarchy holds state information pertaining to an application or
the system. State information is data that programs modify while they
run, and that pertains to one specific host. Users should never need to
modify files in /var/state to configure a package's operation.
State information is generally used to preserve the condition of an
application (or a group of inter-related applications) between
invocations and between different instances of the same application.
State information should generally remain valid after a reboot, should
not be logging output, and should not be spooled data.
An application (or a group of inter-related applications) should use a
subdirectory of /var/state for its data. There is one required
subdirectory, /var/state/misc, which is intended for state files that
don't need a subdirectory; the other subdirectories should only be
present if the application in question is included in the distribution.
/var/state/<name> is the location that should be used for all
distribution packaging support. Different distributions may use
different names, of course.
Previous releases of this standard used the name /var/lib for this
hierarchy. /var/lib is deprecated, but it may be used in parallel with
the required /var/state hierarchy, as a transitional measure for
application-specific data. Note, however, that this allowance will be
removed in a future release of the standard. Alternately, /var/lib may
be made a symbolic link to /var/state.
BEGIN RATIONALE
/usr/lib is increasingly used solely for object files or archives of
them; this is true of the current BSD UNIX variants as well as current
GNU packages. Accordingly, the name /var/lib seemed inappropriate.
BSD uses the name /var/db for a similar directory. This name seemed
overly constricting, as it implied a directory structure intended
primarily for database (.db) files.
END RATIONALE
--------------------------- schnipp ------------------------------
But FHS 2.1-pre-02 stepped back and places all the files, which 2.0
placed in /var/state, in /var/lib again.
So I fear, that we have to change the packages using /var/state again
to use /var/lib.
Tschoeeee
Roland
PS: I personally prefer /var/state, but that's a different question.
--
* roland@spinnaker.de * http://www.spinnaker.de/ *
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